Feelings Unexplained
by iceFlash-ex
Summary: Dororo felt something like this for a long time now. Giroro never knew he felt like this. Certain things start to happen that they never thought they would experience ever. CONTAINS SLASH and/or YAOI. Rating Shifts in certain chapters
1. Wandering

The sun was up in the sky and the wind was blowing. Dororo was standing up on a tall but stout tree, it overlooked the city. The view was breathtaking when the sun rises or goes down. The scene was good enough for him to breathe and take in the fresh air flowing by. It was great for him to think peacefully ,without any interruptions.

He started to think and thoughts started to drift into his head. Then a certain someone  
popped into the keron's head. His face started to become a bit red.

"What's wrong with me?" he uttered in his thoughts. He shook his head...trying to get the thought out of his head. Soon after, he leaped off.

Meanwhile at the Hinata residence...

"STUPID FROG!" It echoed inside the house. It was Natsumi scolding Keroro because of another attempt of trying to take over Pekopon. The sergeant was beaten until he lost consciousness. Everybody ended up as the same old people...err frogs...they were. Tamama was eating cake...Kururu was back on his computer...Dororo wasn't called, but he really didn't mind at this point...it felt the same.

Speaking of Dororo...

He was wanting to do some target practice, but it wasn't in the base. He went further in the forest and found a place where he could do it. The trees were his mark. The shurikens started flying in the air...but his thoughts were making him lose focus. Instead of the weapons hitting the trees, he ended up hitting other things like rocks and the forest floor. He ended up disappointed...

The wind was blowing through the trees, making them sway. That was the only sound that Dororo's ears heard...until he sensed a presence nearby.

"Who's there!" he yelled out. He looked around but it came out of the shadows.  
"It's just me Dororo." It was Koyuki.  
"Oh...I'm sorry Koyuki, I didn't know," he said. Koyuki just accepted.  
"Why are you in here?" Dororo was curious.  
"I...just like being here, and then I saw you come in here so I just stayed here," was Koyuki's response.

The conversation continued for a few minutes while the leaves were falling. Later on Koyuki decided to leave, Dororo on the other hand wanted to stay in the forest. He laid down on the grass looking upward to the sky covered by the trees brushing against each other.

"...Giroro..." The name started to flutter in Dororo's head, his eyes started to close shut.

The hours started to pass by.

The afternoon was in place and Giroro was sitting in front of his tent, polishing his weapons. His mind was somewhat blank until a peculiar thought of his entered his head. It wasn't Natsumi and it wasn't about the invasion...it was about...

"...Dororo...where is he now?" He started to wonder about the ninja. Normally, he never goes popping inside his head but for the past days, he seemed baffled that he was faintly appearing in his thoughts whenever he wasn't there beside him.

He dropped the cloth and just stopped cleaning. His mind started to wander as well...

As soon as Giroro started to wonder, Dororo awoken from his sleep. The forest was still the same but the sky was starting to change color. The wind blew the grass. He stood up and looked around for a brief moment and started walking.

"...Giroro-kun...I..." He whispered in the wind. He felt alone and that no ends are going to meet. He didn't know if he could tell him the truth.

The sun was setting and he ran back home with a blank look on his face...


	2. Confused

Sunrise came...the light started to shine through the doors and the windows. Dororo woke up looking up at the ceiling of his room. He rubbed his eyes of the residue and stretched. Afterwards he fixed everything up and got to his ordinary day. He ate breakfast with Kuyuki and did some bit of the chores. Walking outside...a thought entered his head.

"It seems as if Pekopon...or as they call it Earth...has it's similarities with our planet..." It entered his head.

He felt that his days on Pekopon were starting to get redundant even if he doesn't know it. His trauma switch goes on whenever any of the Keronians like Keroro or Tamama forget someone. There are fun days and there are boring ones...days are like this.

"I need to tell him...or else the chances to tell him...will run out." It was a priority in his head. The ninja looked up at the fair sky.

Dororo quit daydreaming and walked toward the Hinata residence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning started out...down in the base.

"...I really just don't feel like invading Pekopon today..." Keroro was being lazy again. He grabbed an unfinished Gunpla and laid down on his bed. The meeting was dismissed and everyone scattered around the base. His lazing around was starting to get too typical.

Since there was barely anything for today...all that was left to do was to relax. Dororo got onto the roof of the house. He liked how the sky looked so peaceful and thats what made his mind have a sense of silence.

He looked up and then tilted his head downward and saw...

"...Giroro...-kun," he started feeling anxious...feeling as if he could slip off the roof of the house. His face started to become red just as before. He itched to move from his spot and jump a level lower but his head just made him want to turn around...and he did what his head had to say.

He refused to do what he wanted even though he already thought of it earlier on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later...

"...Hmmm...how am I supposed to get this off my chest," Dororo started whispering to himself once more until he felt a sudden bump by his shoulder. The ninja turned around and saw the jolly dark blue frog happily skipping through the halls of the base.

"...Oh...Dororo-senpai...I'm sorry for bumping into you." Tamama apologized with a jolly look taped on his face.  
"...No its alright..." Dororo replied. He sighed silently.

Tamama took a closer look at Dororo and started to ask questions...

"...Dororo-senpai, are you okay?"  
"...uh...why are you asking that Tamama-kun?"  
"Well...it's because even with that mask on your face...your eyes can tell if you feel sad or not."  
"...I'm just alright...don't worry Tamama-kun..."

He denied the fact that he felt sad but he statement woke Dororo up a little and he started a question of his own.

"...uhhmm...Tamama-kun, can I ask you something?"  
"Of course you can senpai...what is it?"  
"...okay...so...how do you feel about Keroro..err...the sergeant?"  
"...I like the sergeant a lot...He really means so much to me. How much I wish we could be together forever,"  
"...could?..."  
"...well we could...IF THAT WOMAN WASN'T IN THE WAY...AHHH SHE RUINS EVERYTHING!!!"

The statements and questions were passed back and forth yet from the sweet Tamama that started blushing...his split personality jumped in and really spit out words of Mois ruining everything. He was wanting to blast a beam because of her.

As soon as he returned back to normal...Dororo accompanied him for a brief while and split paths. From Tamama's point of view, Dororo could tell how much he likes the sergeant but somehow in a creepy manner because of his hate toward Mois...it was really difficult to look through. From there he only got a tiny description of the feelings he has. He was still caught up in his confusion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile...

Giroro was outside doing the usual thing he does almost every single day...cleaning his weapons. He looked deeply into his own reflection as he was polishing his weapons. A sudden image appeared for a slight moment. It was faintly light blue yet it was overshadowed with black. He looked up for a brief moment and thought that what he sighted was real...

"...Was it, just in my head..." A heavy sigh got out of his mouth. He started to feel a bit warm, getting confused on what the feeling was. He closed his eyes and saw the image reappear. His face started blush...

"...GAAH...but why...why...Dororo?" He shook his head back and forth, trying to let go of the thought of the light blue Keron. His thoughts dug deeper into his head and confusion was breaking loose in not one but two of the Keron's heads...

"...can I tell him what I feel..." It ringed in both of their heads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro walked through the base feeling a bit nervous inside but not showing it in the exterior. The questions rang in his head...the tension was disturbing him. He did until he felt the same bump the ninja had.

"...Oh...I'm sorry Giroro-senpai..." It was Tamama again, happily frolicking in the hallways but now he had some cake icing smeared on his face.  
"...Eh...Tamama...you've got icing on your face," he said looking at the private's cheek distractedly. He looked up and then out of the blue...a question got into his head and got spit out of his mouth.  
"...Tamama...can I ask you something..." He started.  
"...Hmmm...what is it gochou-san?"  
"...How do you feel about that frog...Keroro"

Tamama's feelings were already spread throughout the platoon so everybody knew that he liked the sergeant more than a friend...however most of the troop felt it as a creepy presence. Keroro on the other hand really doesn't care much about the platoon at times so ignorance was common too. He felt embarrassed that he would ask about the sergeant so he put a slight smirk on his face but the response he got was...

"...That's funny...Dororo-senpai asked me the same question sometime back..."

A feeling of shock rolled in his head as Giroro wondered why Dororo would ask that question to Tamama. He didn't continue to listen to Tamama bicker on what the answer was, the truth is he really didn't care what Tamama said becaused he shortly realized that it would've been something psychotic so he ran off. Tamama stared off into the distance wondering what made the corporal run...

"..hmmm...oh well...Well, Time to eat some candy...hehe." He was back to frolicking in the hallway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	3. Confession

_' These flowers bloom so beautifully...they're like relationships. It can bloom when you take care of them but wither when you leave it the way it is...its soiled' _

Dororo's thoughts were concentrated a bit on the metaphor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dororo was watering the plants that were placed in a specific part of the base. He touched and looked at all the plants surrounding that very room...but one caught his eye...it was already withered and drooping down.

"...What a waste...maybe I'm distracted...it's my fault that this plant died," he whispered out. Even though he really wanted to deny it...it was already fixed in his head that it was true. His thoughts on Giroro and he started to get a bit passive day by day.

A sigh got let out of his mouth with the disappointment hidden in his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steps were quietly echoing through the corridor of the underground base.

"...It's weird if Dororo asked that to Tamama." Even though this was something to not fuss about so much, it lingered in his head.  
"...Is it just plain coincidence?..." His pacing started to grow slower.

He looked steadily down to the floor and stopped. He looked up and gasped mentally as he saw what his head was projecting to him.

"...GaaKK...Do...roro," he thought nervously. He froze in his tracks...and barely moved an inch. His heart started beating at a fast rate. His face was furiously flashing red.

"DO...RO...RO," He muttered but it didn't reach out quite well. Dororo passed by without noticing that Giroro called for him, not one syllable.

"...Damn it...Why...am I getting nervous..." He was up in denial thinking that his harsh exterior could hold up. He ran back aboveground just giving up the chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dororo walked through the corridor with a really frustrated look on his face. He walked around the base relentless of where or what was there but he really didn't bump into any real danger...well maybe there was one.

"..._kukuku_...what seems to be the matter senpai..." The voice boomed.

Dororo looked and saw Kururu walk past his laboratory and nearing him. His laugh was scary for Dororo to hear because by the looks of it, he wanted to do something to him. He felt a bit shaky looking at the nightmarish expression on the yellow frog's face. The ninja continued walking by but still Kururu followed him slowly.

"...it seems as if your hiding something..." He started adding and adding more and more. Dororo still tried to keep his composure straight...he was lucky he had that mask. He suspected that Kururu wanted to know what it was he was hiding. He began to walk slower.

"...Kururu...why are you following me?" Dororo started to get annoyed, but with Kururu's mischievous attitude...he would really want to know.

"...if you won't tell me...then I'll do this..._kukukukuku_" His arms started to slide onto Dororo's shoulders and rub them moving lower bit by bit. The light blue Keronian started to shudder.

"...WHAT ARE YOU DOING!..." He shouted as he slapped the yellow hands off his shoulders. His shock intensified as he turned.

"...kuku...I'm just trying to get it out of you..kuku..." It was a quite malicious way to get something out of Dororo. The ninja started to run away from the disgusting Keron without knowing that his mask was starting to become loose. But the truth is...Kururu wanted to tease him in a way that he himself could enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gusts of wind were blowing throughout the city. The clouds started to get darker by the moment. It was starting to drizzle. It was a Sunday, so they- the Pekopons and the Keronians- were lucky that they were all inside the house...well is that all of them?

"...Our weather forecast for today...There is an incoming storm entering Japan...it is advised that people stay in their houses for the meantime..." The televison was on and the forecast came out as breaking news.

"...Hmm...thats weird...it wasn't this bad this morning..." Natsumi passed by the television screen wondering about the forecast. The truth is nowadays the forecasts could become false for once or twice.

But still there was a frustrated Keronian was knocking about with the same thought in his head.

"...Maybe...I should tell Dororo...even one bit of what I...feel." Giroro started to think. In his thoughts, if he kept withholding his feelings for Dororo...it would've ripped him apart. He actually felt this way for the past couples of weeks.  
He spotted Fuyuuki and asked him.

"...uhhmm...Fuyuuki...do you know where...Dororo is?" A hint of tension was in his voice but it wasn't noticed. Fuyuuki started recalling and remembered.

"...what I remember was that he ran outside...hey wait a second...Sis isn't there a storm?" Giroro's steady thoughts got shattered by a sudden feeling of anxiousness. The storm started to grow stronger.

"...STUPID...he shouldn't be out there!" The red warrior screamed in his head. He ran out the door grabbing an umbrella. He was furious but much more worried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...DORORO!...DORORO!...damn it where is he." He screamed out the name repeatedly as the rain started to overshadow his voice. He was scrambling to find the ninja fast. He looked up in the house in the forest where Kuyuki stayed... but she said he wasn't there. It was getting nerve-racking as Giroro searched.

He looked for the Keron high and low even mistaking other images for him.

"...Please DORORO, where are you!" He screamed out.

The river wasn't overflowing but it started rushing faster with a great amount of ripples flowing through it. As he passed by, he saw a blurred image. It was light blue in color and was in a sitting stance. Drops were running down his skin and his eyes were looking deeply into his distorted reflection. Giroro wanted to take a look in case he wasn't hallucinating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He stared so long into that river he wanted to think...even though the storm was the loudest noise that could distract someone from speaking.

"...Giroro-kun...I need to tell you something...I have to get this out right now." The ninja was speaking...practicing to let out what he needed to say but even though Giroro wasn't by his side...he thought it was impossible.

The only thing was that...Giroro was right there nearby. Giroro couldn't believe that it was...Dororo...speaking those words. The rain started to get weaker but by only a bit. Giroro was wondering...was this a confession? The image that he saw looked like when his trauma switch is on but instead of blurting out what happened before, he started speaking words of his feelings.

Giroro tried listening carefully to the words going out of his lips. He wasn't shocked nor nervous anymore. He felt it was the right time to tell the ninja...all the things he wanted to get off his chest...this was going to be it.

"...Dororo..." Giroro said the Lance Corporal's name...the light blue Keron turned with an agitated emotion plastered on his face.

"...Giroro-kun...uhh...well..." Dororo's body was shaking violently but he was blushing madly. He didn't know what to say...The rain drops were running down his body...but tears were rolling down his cheeks. He didn't notice, but his mask was undone and was tucked under his chin.

"...Dororo...you can continue what you had to say." He kneeled down and moved closer to his friend and suddenly hugged him close as his face started to blush as well as Dororo's. He dropped the umbrella not caring if the rain would do any damage to them both. Dororo closed his eyes starting to say the words steadily.

"...Giroro-kun...we've been friends since before...but now I want to tell you that...  
I LOVE YOU!..." He said words of how they are as friends and then he yelled out his feelings toward the corporal. He finally felt relief enter his body. He hugged his mate back tightly.

"...If you want to know...I feel the same way..I...love you too." Giroro said and pulled back from the hug and put his hands on the ninja's cheeks. He kissed him tenderly...with Dororo hugging him close to his wet body. The red Keron pulled back from the kiss and started to talk.

"...We need to get going...there's a storm approaching."  
"...I'm sorry for making you worry..."  
"...No, it's just all right..."  
"...Thank you for coming to find me..."  
"...No problem..."

Giroro fixed Dororo's mask and put it back to where it was supposedly placed, covering the light blue Keronian's mouth and picked up the umbrella and held it above their heads. They walked back home even though the storm was still there. They stepped on puddles but their bodies were close together the whole trip.

"...thank goodness we feel the same way...about each other..." The thought ringed in both of their heads at the same time...as they were looking into the eyes of one another...

_...the chance wasn't wasted after all... _


	4. Static

...A week had passed ever since that very incident...Giroro and Dororo were happy and closer than ever. They were almost always together whenever Dororo came by the house. Giroro, even with the grumpy expression on his face, he was truly happy that the heavy feeling got off of his back...

...but still...did Dororo have any problems?

His happiness was already starting to show after the storm. But still there was bound to be interferences to come by. There was something else that replaced the sad thoughts in his head.

He passed by the hallway...by Kururu's lab. Dororo felt a slight feeling of disgust as he passed by the inventor's haven. He couldn't get the malicious thought out of his head...the feeling of having someone else touching him as if he was his. He remembered as the hands rubbed against his shoulders and the mask coming undone. It was a new trauma implanted in his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning arrived and the weather was normal...the sky was blue...you could rather say it was fair.

"...Giroro-kun..." Dororo was on the roof observing his mate with a happy expression on his face. He leaped down to go closer to the warrior.  
"...I see you're doing the same thing again today..." It was always the same thing that Giroro does day by day whenever there wasn't an operation taking place... For him the weapons always needed to be polished even though they look clean enough at times.

"...well...maybe I need some new hobbies..." He whispered to the ninja.

Dororo sat beside Giroro getting a word or two out of him. They were satisfied with each other.

"...why...don't we take a walk?" Dororo requested. Giroro liked the idea to some extent so he dropped the cloth and the gun and put it back in the tent in an orderly manner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They went down under the Hinata household, down into the base. They were happy until something disturbing came out of the blue...for one of them it was normal but for the other...was something that would scare the life out of him. A wicked laugh heard echoing through the hallways. It was nightmarish and really hard to erase from his head...Dororo.

"...maybe...we shouldn't be here..." Dororo moved closer to his mate and squeezed his arm slightly.

"...hmm...what's the matter..." Giroro was wondering about the scared expression on the Lance Corporal's face.

Giroro never knew why Dororo ran out of the house and he never knew that Kururu invaded Dororo's privacy...so Giroro just thought a bit. He was getting bewildered of the possibilities. But as he was thinking the pressure onto his arms was starting to hurt. He looked at his frightened mate...his eyes were closed while shedding some tears and he was shivering...Giroro could tell that Dororo wanted to get out of the corridors.

"...Lets go..." The words escaped the red frog's lips. The light blue frog merely nodded. They ran back aboveground hoping that Dororo wouldn't hear the nightmarish cackle echo more into his ears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wind brushed against the grass perfectly and the heat wasn't anything intense enough to burn anyone...the day was fine...supposedly. Dororo and Giroro were walking on a hilltop...they didn't look like a playful couple but like any ordinary friends.

They barely told anyone about their affair...it would actually feel wrong if anyone knew for now...but there was something Giroro wanted to know. They paused for a brief moment and Giroro started off...

"...Dororo...could I ask you...something?" Once again, a slight tension was ringing in his voice.  
"...What's that Giroro-kun?" Dororo turned around and saw that the expression on Giroro's face was serious.  
"...What made you so scared...back when we were in the base?" It hit Dororo like an arrow...he really didn't want to say what happened...

Dororo averted his eyes for sometime...he really didn't want to say it but there was no use of hiding it...he took a deep breath and started a second confession...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The story was merely short yet Dororo was scared if he ever so told anyone else about it...chaos would've broke out. But the possibilities were one in a million...the end result turned out something happy but unexpected for the scared ninja.

"...Dororo...I never knew it was like that...but don't worry...I'll keep you safe from that pervert..." Giroro moved close to his mate, hugging him while he was at it.  
"...Giroro-kun...thank you..." He hugged him back, nuzzling his head on the red Keron's shoulder recieving a kiss on his forehead and a hand rubbing his shivering back.

"..._kukukuku_...it seems the development is rather interesting... but still...do you two know what'll happen next..._kukukukuku_"

He was watching the show go on on his hi-tech computer. Sergeant Major Kururu accidentally switched the view to Giroro's position instead of on the Hinata household. Instead of stalking the Hinata's...like he always almost does..., he stalked his co-officers. But really...for him, it was a much better movie to look at than the Hinata's movements.

The static suddenly engulfed the computer screen...the video feed was gone for the meanwhile...but still the two were in danger...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two arrived back at the Hinata household once more...the sky was orange and the sun was starting to fall into the horizon. The two sat close to each other with Dororo lying on the Giroro's lap. Giroro sat infront of his tent caressing the light blue face presented in front of him with a red blush on his cheek

He was in his head for the past couple of days. His thoughts on the invasion were still in his head but now it's like scrap. It's there when there's nothing else...besides it was the mission...the purpose why the Keronians came onto Pekopon...so why is it somehow forgotten by some?

It came as plans but ended up as failures. There were conflicts but got resolved in almost a blink of the eye. Are days coming to be like this...

Dororo was in Giroro's head as the red hand kept brushing on the skin of a light blue hue. He was getting into it until he heard something.

"..._kukukukuku_...I've never thought this happened..." The voice came from the figure standing by the door. The two stood up to make as if nothing happened...their hearts raced a bit.

Kururu leaned against the door with the mischeavous attitude back in his system. He really was interested about the Corporal and Lance Corporal's affair. The Corporal stood in front of his lover hoping to protect him.

"...hmmm...don't worry senpai...I wont do that again...I just wanted to do that to get something out of him...but I never thought Dororo-senpai kept a secret about wanting to be with Giroro-senpai..._ kukuku_"

There was some part of Kururu that was lying...but the rest...he was greatly astounded. He knew they were childhood friends but he didn't know any more. Giroro was wondering how Kururu knew why he was protecting Dororo...

"...How do you know that he told me what you did!" Giroro exclaimed.  
"..._kukuku_...you probably forgot I have access to your movements back in the lab...besides it was an accident that I saw you two talking so intimately..._kukukukuku_..." It was starting to get insulting for Giroro...he wished he could just push him away from the picture...or better yet punch him in the face.

A light blue hand suddenly gripped the shoulder tightly. It was a sign of restraint...the red frog really wanted a punch out of him...but couldn't because of the arm constricting his shoulder.

"...Giroro-kun...don't do it...I'm all right..." Dororo whispered into the frustrated frog's ear. Giroro calmed down and put his hand down. Kururu walked back into the house...

"...but remember I may be watching you..." The last words that came out of the sergeant major's lips before he completely entered the house.

..._it was really something to be really aware of..._


	5. Memories

...The day arrived...but with the drops falling from the sky. It was a rainy morning...something the forecast didn't get right once more... Dororo woke up to a somehow dark yet it was an astounding sight for him. The plants had the raindrops run down each of the leaves and the petals.

...He felt so happy as he walked out to this sight...The light was fluctuating from the clouds that were seen above.

"...Pekopon...It's such a spectacular sight to see..." The ninja silently muttered. He walked back into the house...with a satisfying feeling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today he decided not to go visit Giroro. For him there are times when somethings could be left even for a day. He needed the rest he needed due to a disturbance during a failed plan the day before. As soon as he looked outside...the bad memory got switched on in his head

The trauma switch turned on but only on a slight level. There wasn't any bad aura but still he sat in the corner weeping silently.

"...Keroro-kun...how could you..." He started muttering.

The time when Keroro took his umbrella when it was raining. He got stranded in the school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The memory started to flow in his head...with a sad expression embedded in his mind. It started to appear. Memories back when they were tadpoles.

...

_' Keroro-kun...why is it that you do this to me...'_ The light blue Keron complained. There was no use but to stay there until the rain would stop...supposedly.

_'...Zeroro..._' His name was called out. He looked up as he saw Giroro held his umbrella on top of his head.

_'...mm...Giroro-kun...thank you...'_ Giroro looked away with a slight blush on his white cheeks. Dororo was happy but with a slight tear rolling down his eye.

They walked toward Zeroro's place first. The rain wasn't strong but still they needed to keep out of it as the rain couldv'e coused sickness. The memory eased out and returned to reality.

...

"...It's somewhat...like watching a rerun of my favorite scene of a movie..." He thought of the memory as something out of his own movie...which felt true.

What happened some days back was almost the same as back when they were children on Planet Keron. The thing different was that the way it started and ended. Dororo laid on the tatami mat motionless but with the trauma switch off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Hinata household...Aki, Fuyuuki and Natsumi were sitting around the television screen enjoying some entertainment. They were laughing because of how much comedy was in the show that they were watching. As for Keroro...he did his chores like washing the clothes and vacuuming the floor.

The different officers of the Keroro platoon were doing business of themselves as the rainy day was in progress. For instance...Tamama was at Momoka's house eating happily what he could possibly chew. Sergant Major Kururu on the other hand was extracting data from tests in the secret base on prototype weapons he developed during his free time.

...Switching to Giroro's point of view. He was looking outside the clear glass door as the raindrops were running down from it. He was getting to be deep in thought once more.

His mind wandered and remembered something other than the umbrella incident.

...

Back when the sun was starting to set...Zeroro would just wander around the school for brief periods of time. He would walk home by himself whenever this happened. But one afternoon, he passed by something that was unusual for the light blue Keron to see. He moved past the grass and pardoned the Keron boy.

_'...mmm...excuse me...whats the matter?'_ He heard him weeping next to the river. The boy panicked and wiped some of the tears of his face. Zeroro was surprised on who it was.  
_'...Giroro-kun!..'_ The light blue frog was schocked to see his friend in the state that he was in. Giroro was trying to explain.  
_'...Zeroro...well...I...can explain...'_He was trying to say but the tears were still rolling down his face.  
_'...you can tell me on the way home...'_ Zeroro handed a handkerchief to his teary-eyed friend. He pulled him up and they started walking and talking.

It turned out he cried so hard because of his brother, Garuru. He said some harsh words and made Giroro run out bursting in tears.

Who knew he was quite sensitive but...is he still now?

It eased back into reality as of before...

"...Dororo...thank you...very much..." Giroro's hand scrolled down the door while he tilted his head downward, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day passed by really fast as if it was any other ordinary day. The next day arrived without the dark clouds overshadowing the city. The day continued on and Dororo visited his red lover.

"...Giroro-kun...good morning..." The happy expression was on under his mask.  
His mate bid him the same. They started talking as they were close and happy. They started talking about some memories they thought have a great feeling.

"...nn...Dororo...do you still remember this?" Giroro flashed the handkerchief with a familiar embroidery on it.

"...huh...Giroro-kun..." Shock was flowing through the light blue head.

Giroro kept the handkerchief for sometime and, even though had some dirty spots, was still in mint condition.

"...thank you Dororo...you helped me through that..."

Giroro hugged Dororo close to him along with a happy expression on the corporal's face along with a kiss to the masked lips of his mate.

"...you're welcome...Giroro-kun..."

The words escaped his lips as soon as they both pulled back. 


	6. Occasion

There was one day on Pekopon wherein love was flying in the air. It took place every fourteenth of the month Febuary as almost everything was covered in hearts and roses. Valentines Day...the day when giving sweets meant something, and the day when love bloomed the most. But somehow...there are some people new at this.

Giroro was inside the Hinata household walking about, wondering what the fuss is all about. He looked at Natsumi preparing some sweet chocolates for Saburo supposedly. His feelings for Natsumi already passed...as he felt that there's no use to fall for a Pekoponian as maybe one day...it shall be invaded...and as well as for a fact that she loved someone else. So for now Natsumi is a close friend of his.

Giroro was curious of the occasion as this was maybe one of the few times he experienced this holiday. He started to ask.

"...Natsumi...what is going on today...everybody's doing something..."  
"...Today's Valentines Day Giroro...it's a day when you give somebody something...to show how much you...like them..."

Giroro slowly looked at the calendar hanging from the wall nearby. The day Febuary 14 was encircled with a heart. As Natsumi was somehow optimistic whenever she thought of Saburo, Valentines wasn't just like that. Giroro left Natsumi to do what she wanted...but still she had a point.

He wasn't that crafty and he wasn't good for a cook either so he thought deeply if he should give Dororo something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile...Dororo was overlooking the streets of Japan seeing the occasion. The flower shops were doing better business today just as well as the cake shops. Today was a sweet occasion, people going on dates and stuff like that. He was with Koyuki and was slightly familiar with the occasion.

"...I think I'll go visit Giroro-kun..." It popped in his head and so he jumped to it.

He started running toward the Hinata househould alongside Koyuki. Koyuki really wanted to visit Natsumi and see how she was doing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile down in the base...Keroro was observing something about the particular holiday. It made him wonder and then he thought up about something...a plan for the invasion.

"...I see this holiday...is all about love..." He started speaking out into the open.  
"...Let me see...maybe we could use this holiday... in order to rule Pekopon... _GeroGeroGero_"

But it looked as if everyone was in the spirit of Valentines Day. Private Second Class Tamama was carrying something in a box, supposedly a cake for him and Keroro to eat. As he entered the doors to the breifing room he saw Mois alongside Keroro, feeding him something delicious before he could debrief the different members of the Keroro Platoon.

"...GAAH...that woman...is with...gunsou-san..." The box dropped and then his split personality took over.

The wire in his brain snapped and bursted into a Jelousy Ball. The Jelousy Ball flew in the air at a rapid speed but fortunately Mois stood up at the right time and instead of her being hit, Keroro got smashed with it.

"...Gunsou-san!...I'm sorry..." The Private ran to his aid.  
"...It's okay...Tamama-nitou..." Keroro was already used to getting hit by the deadly moves Tamama has up his sleeves...it's lucky he gets to live another day.

He then fell unconcious in the Private's arms. Tamama ,on the other hand, kissed Keroro gently on the forehead and apologized.

"...I'm sorry...gunsou-san..." He repeated.

The operation was cancelled due to the incident.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Natsumi was busy trying to finish the valentine's chocolates for Saburo. A knock then echoed through the hallway. The pink haired girl was already aware that Keroro got blasted and besides that she couldn't let him do it , him being an alien after all. Natsumi spotted Fuyukii and then told him to get the door as because she had her hands full.

Fuyukii walked slowly in the hallway and arrived at the door, opening it. He saw Koyuki and Dororo stand in front of the doorstep. He invited them in and told his sister who it was.

"...I'm surprised you didn't pop out of anywhere in the house..." Fuyukii told Koyuki as they were walking toward the living room.  
"...Oh...me and Dororo thought we'd just come through the front door..." Koyuki said as a response.

Koyuki offered to help Natsumi and she accepted as the kitchen looked like a mess with her rushing. While this was happening, Dororo got to the back and spotted Giroro lying on the grassy surface in front of his tent.

"...Giroro-kun..." Dororo yelled a bit to his mate.  
"...oh...Hi...Dororo..." Giroro sat up and got a bit embarassed.  
"...Hmm...What's wrong Giroro-kun..." Dororo noticed the look plastered on the red face.

Giroro couldn't think of anything to give Dororo...but he had a backup plan.

"...Dororo...would you mind if...I take you somewhere..."  
"...Hmm...why Giroro-kun?.."

Giroro kept silent and stood up, taking the light blue hand. They walked up to a hill surrounded with trees. It was kind of hard to get a visual perceptive of where they were going but still Giroro knew where would be perfect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sky was beginning to turn orange. They were walking on the marked path and arrived at a lake surrounded by trees. Dororo was still wondering why did Giroro take him here. But still the scenery took his breath away...

"...Giroro-kun...why did you take me here?..."  
"...It's a gift..."  
"...for Valentines..."  
"...Dororo, just look...

The sky was starting to turn darker. It was getting harder to see but then somthing came out. There were small lights flickering about, flying around in the air. They were fireflies. The number was increasing little by little. Then the stars began to shimmer up in the sky and the trees were swaying back and forth alongside the grass. The water sparkled in lights. Dororo didn't know what to say.

"...Thank you Giroro-kun...This is...the best thing I've seen..."  
"...Your welcome...Dororo..."

Dororo, all of a sudden, hugged Giroro. They accidentally fell onto the grassy surface but they felt great about it. Giroro really didn't mind if he didn't give Dororo anything but still it would've been better to give something or at the least show something. He didn't do it for the sake of giving but because he loves Dororo indefinitely.

"...Let's stay here for a while..." Dororo said laying his head on the white belly of his lover.

They laid down on the grass and watched the sky glimmer through the black sky. Giroro rubbed his head while looking upward at the starry sky.

"...Now I understand what Valentines Day is..." Giroro thought silently.


	7. Disclosure

The sun arisen from the mountains covering it. The light was flickering through the early morning and the leaves were dripping with dew. It felt as a silent morning as it wasn't scorching hot but as well as it wasn't freezing cold. A fair day you could say...

The sunlight glimmered through the trees while they sway gently. The forest was pleasant with the different hues of green swishing about. The wind smelled fresh and was the best thing that would've entered your nose. The water sparkled with the fishes swimming slowly deep below.

The morning was serene...Dororo was enchanted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He walked outside to feel nature surround him after a hearty meal. He liked how the scent entered his nose. How the trees complement the house. He wanted to take a short stroll around the forest.

He felt he was in his own place...until something shined and distracted him. It was a metal luster that came from the path ahead. Dororo wanted to check things out to be sure everything was fine.

Meanwhile...the Hinata household was a bit silent as the members of the family living in this house left for school and work. The members of the platoon were deep in the underground base minding their own business doing what they liked most...all of them except for one.

Corporal Giroro...usually sitting in front of his tent whenever the invasion never took off and there whenever there wasn't any plans for the invasion. He would mostly stay relaxed inside or outside of his tent whenever there wasn't anything going on...cleaning his large set of weapons and so.

All he could hear for the meantime were the birds chirping their song along with the crickets with the sound resonating through the early morning...until footsteps crunched onto the grass coming from the back entrance of the house. He knew it wasn't any Pekopon as they've already ran off to school.

He stood up and got on his guard...preparing for what he didn't expect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The luster was starting to intensify as he ran toward what was making the distracting shimmer appear. He went closer and saw what was making it glow in the violent manner. The metal coming off of a body...A Keron body...

He pulled out the sword from the sheath protecting the blade...as it was an enemy.  
It was Zoruru.... He spotted him sitting against the tree stump under the direct sunlight as the trees weren't covering the sea of light. The cyborg turned around seeing the sharp edge pointed at him.

"...Zeroro...get that out of my face..." It wasn't quite the hello but he didn't bring the sharp blade out from his hand.  
"...Zoruru...why aren't you fighting back..." He spoke out to the gray half-metallic cyborg, but he felt as he was provoking him.

After that he noticed him shake a bit holding his hand close to his chest.

"...Zoruru-dono...Is there something wrong?" Dororo , slowly putting the blade down...was wondering what was wrong with his nemesis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro on the other hand had his gun pointed at the somewhat distracting yet familiar face. It was Giroro's older brother, First Lieutenant Garuru. The gun was still pointing at the purple face...but was shaking a bit. As Giroro thought that Garuru's platoon would do another sneaky trick to take over Pekopon...

"...tsk...try to shoot that thing in my face Giroro..." It was a threat but that wasn't what Garuru needed.

Obviously, Giroro couldn't do it. Shooting another officer was a sign of him being banned...but this wasn't his reason why. It was quite inhumane for him to shoot his brother...so he didn't do it. There was rivalry between the two but still why would Giroro shoot him. But the real question was, why would Garuru come up to the corporal of lower class than him?

"...well...I didn't want to threat you...I just wanted to discuss something with you..." The purple officer spoke first gently changing the tone of his voice.  
"...hmm...so what is it...?" Giroro sat down on the block of cement laid on the grass.

Garuru stayed silent and looked around first before he could say anything else. Garuru then all of a sudden moved his head near Giroro's ear and whispered something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro screamed after hearing every word as it was said. His older brother suddenly slapped his hand on the mouth letting out the scream, hoping no on would hear anything.

"...Shut up!..." The words escaped the older one's lips furiously.  
"...but Garuru...why tell me that...?" The red frog started to question as he removed the purple hand off his mouth.  
"...It seems to me...that your the only one I could trust in saying this...so don't you dare say a word of what I told you to someone else..." Was the response let go, emphasizing the last part of the sentence.  
"...I...understand..."

The response was wobbly ,yet Giroro understood the consequences. Garuru stayed for a bit more sitting on the block laid down on the grass next to the firewood that was ablaze.

"...but Garuru...why would you..."

The question tried to escape his lips but he was cut off when the purple hand gently closed his mouth.

"...You'd be better off not asking questions..."

It was a bit harsh but understandable coming out of the first lieutenants mouth. The mood was undeniably silent but Garuru just stayed motionless, sitting next to the campfire, not saying one more word.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile...the two lance corporals were wandering in the forest. Zoruru had a confused expression plastered on his face while they were walking. Dororo stared at him from the start until the middle of the trip as Zoruru never gave an answer to the question Dororo posted at him. But somehow Zoruru had the urge to walk with Dororo...which was kind of strange.

"...quit staring at me..." Zoruru was ticked at the light blue Keron staring at him all the way.  
"...I'm sorry Zoruru-dono..." Dororo looked away but still he was curious why Zoruru was there beside him.  
"...Zoruru-dono...you could tell me what's wrong..." The movement stopped as Dororo grasped Zoruru gray fleshy hand.  
"...whaa...I've got nothing to hide..." But still Zoruru was nervous saying this.

Dororo suspected that Zoruru was lying as the grey ninja was trembling by Dororo's grasp. Zoruru broke down and couldn't take Dororo's curiosity any further.

"...damn it...I'll tell you...just quit asking and staring at me..."

He shook the blue hand of his own and started to speak out. After the story ended...Dororo was shocked and was in realization.

"...Zoruru-dono...I..."  
"...save it...it's better off theres nothing more to say..."  
"...right..."

They continued on walking outward the forest and into the city. From there they split paths but before that...Zoruru said something.

"...remember Zeroro...we're still enemies. And don't you dare say what I told you...or else this goes down your throat..."

The blade arose from his hand and glistened in the light. Dororo didn't take the threat lightly. As soon as those words escaped into the air, Zoruru took of and vanished like into thin air. Dororo...seeing it was a good oppurtunity to visit Giroro...he did so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The fire was still ablaze as Giroro sat in front of it while his older brother was still sitting near him...somehow motionless still not saying a word.

"...why don't we talk about something...it's been long ever since we talked to each other..." Giroro broke the silence. Garuru looked at his younger brother however he was a bit blank on topics.  
"...it has been, hasn't it?..." Garuru began to look at the sky and wander a bit...remembering before.

"...I'm sorry..." It flew into the air slipping into Giroro's ear.

Giroro looked at the purple face with a stunned expression...not knowing why his older brother said that. 


	8. Apology

_'...I knew before was torture...I felt how treacherous it would be when I was a kid...He caused me pain...why just tell me now...?" _It went through his head feeling his trust with his brother wasn't clear if it was cut off or not.

"...I'm sorry Giroro...I'm sorry of what I did to you..." It echoed in Giroro's head repeatedly as Garuru repeated himself.

"...I can't understand you Garuru..." Not sure on how to accept the apology...Giroro looked down with disappointment running through his mind.

"...I just told you...I'm sorry..." Garuru's voice began to become slightly harsh.

"...It isn't enough...You don't know what I've been through..." His eyes were averted away not staring into the yellow visor.

_'...why is he sitting next to me telling me stuff I never knew he would say...he's a weird person to be with...I...don't know how to tell him...he's just really stubborn person...stupid brother...'_Multiple thoughts infiltrated his already frustrated red frog's head.

"...don't think I don't know what you're saying in that head of yours..." Garuru was glaring at him already seeing the deceit burn in his eyes and mind.

"...It was better off you didn't come here..." He was greatly furious.

"...but..."

Giroro walked out on Garuru, as he tried to counter, and walked back into the house furiously not accepting the apology...as the scars were inflicted and can't be reversed any longer...he was hurt deeply and he couldn't flush it out of his system at one glimpse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...Giroro...I'm sorry..." Garuru kept repeating himself while he was still sitting, by himself, in front of the tent that stood in front of the house.

He felt guilty as when they were back on planet Keron...torturing his brother while they were at home or on the battlefield. He clenched his fist tightly as he was in great denial.

"...this isn't happening to me..."

As soon as he got consumed in thought...the sound of grass crinkling entered his ears.

"...Giroro-kun...eh...Garuru-dono...what are you doing here...?"

Dororo came through the back entrance spotting Garuru seated by the fire...but then he suddenly remembered what Zoruru told him and kept his mouth shut.

"...I just...came to visit Giroro..."

Garuru told a small lie just to get past the real fact. They were both lying to get past what happened. It was quite unusual for Garuru to visit Giroro so...Dororo sensed this...that the purple frog was hiding something that he doesn't want anyone to know just as well as the light blue one. As soon as this was done...there was a grumbling stomach heard by the two.

"...Garuru-dono...would you care to eat something?"  
"...ah...okay..."  
"...maybe some noodles or some sushi..."  
"...eh...as long as..."

The continuing words were quite a long wait as the serving suggestions escaped Dororo's masked Keronian lips. He was getting humiliated, bit by bit, as he kept hearing different Japanese food.

"...as long as what...Garuru-dono...?"  
"...as long as...it doesn't involve chopsticks..."  
"...Garuru-dono..."

It was quite humiliating being in Japan not knowing how they eat with chopsticks. They went inside the house with the Lieutenant hoping to not see the chopsticks in front of his face...as he has a hard time using them...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile...down in the base...

"...stupid...nii-chan...CRAP...Its GARURU..." correcting himself.

Giroro was stomping furiously on the tiles laid out on the floor of the hallway...thinking..'_...why the hell would I trust him...what good was it that he came here...to think...that I missed him..._'

He was letting out words of hate, regret and things related to this. He was when suddenly a nightmarish laugh filled the halls.

"_kukukukuku_...somebody's angry..."  
"...Kururu..what the hell..."  
"...hmmm...you seem surprised..._kukukukuku_..."

Giroro countered every statement Kururu threw at him and then the glasses-wearing frog asked.

"...Is there someone in the house..."  
"...No...there isn't..."

He lied and really didn't want to think of Garuru...but the sweat running down his head said otherwise. He was lightly nervous...and was spotted by the scientist.

"...I guess there is someone in the Hinata household..._kukukukuku_..."  
"..._Damnit_...fine...is it fine that I told you that there is someone here..."  
"..._kuku_...Yes..."

Kururu said that with some gum in his mouth...he chewed it quite noisily...

"...now that I told you...why the hell didn't the sensors go off...?"  
"..._kuku_...well it seems that Keroro busted the computer because of how much research..."

It was quite ironic that Keroro would actually research anything informative so Giroro knew what he meant when he said 'research'. Giroro knew what Kururu meant by Keroro doing research...namely searching for episodes of his favorite show and as well as finding the Gunplas he could possibly add to his collection. The yellow frog took took off and went to attend to the destroyed computer unit.

"...Damnit...Keroro you stupid fool..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back upstairs...Dororo was eating with Garuru. The Lance Corporal felt uncomfortable sitting next to the officer of higher rank as he kept nibbling on the riceball...riceballs don't need chopsticks necessarily so thats the only thing that Dororo could probably present to the lieutenant.

"...mmm...this is good..." Quite the comment from someone who barely tastes Pekopon cuisine.  
"...thank you Garuru-dono, I made them myself..."  
"...really..."

It's been some time since Garuru ever savored Japanese cuisine...but at least this time wasn't with chopsticks. The last time he had used chopsticks...his frustration...not noticable on his face...was greatly reaching his breaking point even though the anger wasn't obvious...until the chopsticks went straight through the food.

"...Garuru-dono..._laughs_..."  
"...hm...what's funny?..."

Dororo spotted the specks of rice scattered on the purple face...and for him he found it funny. He grabbed a table napkin and rubbed the rice off Garuru's face gently.

"...thank you...Zeroro-heichou..."  
"...eh...I think it would be better if you called me Dororo..."  
"...m...but why..."  
_"...some things are better left off...left behind..."_ he thought silently not making eye contact, giving the message mentally.

"...oh...I understand...thank you...Dororo-heichou..."  
"...your welcome Garuru-dono..."

_"...Garuru-dono...he's really kind if you get to know him well...he's the same as Giroro-kun...I envy them both...I envy that Giroro-kun has a brother...I envy Garuru-dono knows so much but still he's strong and never breaks down...How come I'm never like them...?"_ Dororo thought.

He recieved a pat on the back and afterwards continued on eating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_"...maybe I should apologize...I've kind of been harsh on nii-chan..."_

Giroro started thinking thoroughly of what happened earlier on. He walked through the living room, on his way to the kitchen. His eyes were glued to the floor, walking on it.

He looked up and saw Garuru and Dororo seated at the table eating.

"...m...Giroro-kun...come and eat with us..." Dororo looked around Garuru's head and spotted the red frog.  
"...oh...Dororo...nii-chan..."  
"...Giroro..." Garuru silently said in his seat while still nibbling on the riceball.

Giroro clenched his fist unoticably not wanting to look at the purple face that he slightly hated. The silence enveloped the air when all so suddenly...

"...I'm sorry!..." Giroro and Garuru said it at the same time.

They both were shocked mentally, but still they'd forgiven each other, even though the faces didn't say much.

"...Giroro-kun,...Garuru-dono...what's wrong?..."  
"...we just...had a fight..."...The two said separately.

Giroro pulled the chair back and sat atop it. He grabbed a riceball from the plate and started nibbling on the food.

"...So...what are we talking about...?" He then spoke, wanting to know what they were talking about.

They continued on eating and telling some stories that entertained them through the time...well they told stories except for one.

_'...Zoruru told me I shouldn't tell anyone...but...Garuru's right here...I don't know if I should say it...'_

Lance Corporal Dororo was nervous not knowing if he should say it...

_'...Zoruru-dono...I think it's right...I say it...'_

_but...was it really right..._

The shadow behind the glass window was waiting for the result...because he knew he couldn't trust him...with what he already spilled... 


	9. Confronted

_...I should not have trusted Zeroro with what I was keeping inside of me...but...I really didn't know why I told him...Zeroro...Garuru..._

Zoruru was standing nervously upon the roof of the Hinata household, pissed that Dororo was there with Giroro. By the looks of Dororo's face, Zoruru could've told that the light blue ninja was itching to tell the red corporal. He still stayed up there, not noticing that the shadow moved freely on the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three, on the other hand, were enjoying themselves on some riceballs along with just cups of water. They were catching up on old time remembering times thay thought were good...well most of them anyway.

"...nii-chan...do you remember when we were at that park...on Keron..." Giroro started the story.  
"...yeah...but I think you didn't have fun because of me...'  
"...no...I had fun..."

Once this let out...the reverse was thought by Dororo...the trauma switch turned on. The aura started flowing out...bad aura.

_'...I don't know if that was fun...sob...'_

He wept in the corner remembering , instead of having fun, he was hit in the face by Keroro with a ball and just left the masked Zeroro face flat on the grass, partly unconscious and with his forehead bleeding...Keroro just doesn't care if he gets in trouble, does he?

"...What's the matter with Dororo..." Garuru asked.

He was new to seeing Dororo in this state...but it was understandable because from childhood...he was a crybaby most of the time. Giroro started explaining to his older brother on how the ninja got this state.

"...he developed this when Keroro forgot about him...the first day when he found us...that's where it started..."

"...I never knew he was this much sensitive..." Garuru jumped out of the chair and moved towards the lance corporal and tried to rub the light blue back.

"..._shivers_...oww...he's freezing..."

The trauma switch was calming down and eventually switching off and gave out the real Dororo. Dororo...being the strong character he was...was somehow feeling pain and crushed inside as when the years passed by...he was forgotten and abused greatly...This was scarily...confronting the truth that overshadowed Dororo from then on.

"...Dororo...Dororo...wake up..." His name was being repeatedly called by the red warrior.

He woke up out his trans and gained real consciousness lift him up. He rubbed his head feeling a slight pain, sting his forehead.

"...I'm sorry for doing that Giroro-kun..."  
"...That's okay Dororo...at least what happens doesn't hurt you...well, physically anyway..."

The red hands caressed the blue face that was covered by the gray mask.

_"...I guess Giroro isn't the only one keeping secrets here...well...at least he said it..."_

Garuru thought silently as he looked at the sight. The hands continuously running down the cheek followed by a tight hug between the two. His feelings toward his brother deepened as this happened.

"...Giroro..."

Giroro looked up at his brother and let go of the blue body. He almost forgot that his older brother was still there as he was doing what he was doing.

"...nii-chan...you don't understand..."  
"...no...it's alright...I think it's cute..."

Now that was weird. For Garuru and cute being in the same sentence, it didn't mix quite well...but somehow this was what escaped the purple one's lips. This was the opposite of the metalhead Giroro saw on planet Keron and the tough guy saying cute. But now they know they were on the same page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...I never knew you were keeping this from me..."  
"...but nii..._coughs_...Garuru...you also..._gasps_..."

oops...Now Giroro's mouth was beginning to pry open...he had no choice but to spill it someone else

"...Garuru...is it okay if I just tell one other...someone..."

The tone was quite weird and using the word someone was really ackward as...they are frogs...but still Garuru accepted, as he knew who his brother was going to say it to.

"...Dororo...you see about that fight we had..."  
"...So Giroro-kun...there's something alse before that?.."  
"...Yeah...you did see Garuru sitting in front of my tent...right..."  
"...yes...but what's the connection?..."  
"...see...before we argued... he told me something..."

Now everybody should've come clean by this point...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...But Giroro-kun what is it..."

Giroro looked at his brother to see if what he was saying wouldn't offend anyone. A simple nod from the older one meant yes. Giroro continued.

"...he said he felt confused...he said that he felt a bit uncomfortable when he's around someone..."  
"...Giroro-kun...I hope it wouldn't be bad if I asked...but who is it...?"

Dororo began to get intrigued as the two different confessions were getting to be connected. Dororo didn't presume that the two already were the way they are but he listened to Giroro carefully, in order that he wouldn't misunderstand the person he was about to say for someone else.

"...It's Zoruru..."

The strings began to tie...the two different officers didn't know it but...they needed to get it out. As the name got spat out of Giroro's mouth, Dororo looked over the red shoulder he saw a shadow. The light blue ninja stood up and opened the door.

The black image portrayed ridges on one arm along with some shine to it while the other arm was smooth to look at. He looked up and saw it...it was Zoruru standing up there...

"...Zoruru-dono..." Dororo called out the gray one's name as his eye opened slowly. The cyborg leaped off the roof and confronted the light blue ninja.  
"...you really want to be killed...don't you..."

The blade appeared from the grey hand.

"...It's alright...but...I know you want to say something..."  
"...Zeroro...what are you speaking of..."  
"...just look..."

Dororo pointed his hand behind the grey shoulder. The gray lance corporal turned about and saw...the leader of the Garuru Platoon seated on the stair of the doorstep. But somehow...Garuru had a tint of red flash on his purple cheeks...Did anybody ever see Garuru blush?...Zoruru began to shake.

"...Zoruru...I see you're here..."  
"...Garuru..."

Armor wouldn't work this time around...as his emotions broke through his own defenses. He felt like the Keronian he used to be. Not the robot who would go ahead and spatter the blood of another species...just to ease his pain.

He was trembling badly. He felt the heartbeat and blood rush, he was feeling the heavy breath rush through his gray Keron lips, he had his subconscious running circles...are these supposed to be things a human should do...or was this really Zoruru confused with his feeling toward...Garuru...

The two Keroro Platoon members pushed the two Garuru Platoon members closer to each other.

"...what are you doing...?" The two said separately to Giroro and Dororo.  
"...trust me...nii-chan..."  
"...Zoruru-dono..."  
"...It's better if you say it face-to-face..."...the two said once again separately.

The two Garuru platoon members then bumped into each other. They took they're time but the truth is they had a hard time.

"...would you two mind if...we were alone..." Garuru requested.

Giroro and Dororo went inside, hoping that they wont ruin anything. But still, they were relieved and surprised.

"...Giroro-kun...that was quite different of us to see..."  
"...what do you mean, Dororo...?"  
"...You see...Garuru-dono is quite different than when we were on Planet Keron..."  
"...I guess...you're right...I don't believe that nii-chan...and Zoruru....were the same like us..."

The two Keroro Platoon members sat by the dining table, wondering about the differences that happened between now and before. Goodness, they're different from what they used to be. Do people really change over time.?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door slid open and the two Garuru Platoon Members came inside, hand in hand.

"...i see things went well..." Dororo observed this first.  
"...So Garuru...How did things go..."

Quite weird for Giroro to be in on gossip, but still it was his brother...so he was a bit intrigued.

"...I guess you could say...It went well..." The two walked in telling half of the sentences.  
"...Thanks Giroro...Dororo...you hepled us get things off and settled." Garuru thanked the two Keroro Platoon.  
"...Yeah...I guess you could say that..." Zoruru felt akward on the other hand thanking the two.

But the day ended with everything settled and feelings expressed. Garuru and Zoruru were newly together, not obvious but they were happy. 


	10. Blueprint

...It was half past nine...Giroro and Dororo were in the underground base. Probably near the underground planting grounds, where Dororo would usually stay. He like planting ...and this would've obvious and predictable. The two's relationship had a strong bond...and wasn't broken. But still it wasn't greatly obvious that they had the relationship between each other...in front of Keronians nor Pekoponians.

The two entered the area with some gardening tools, as Giroro...having spare time... offered to help...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The vegetables were ready to be picked but Dororo just left them for maybe a day or so, just to be sure. Giroro, on the other hand , was shoveling the soil to put some new flowers and other vegetative plants in them.

"..._wipes his head and takes a breath_...wow...Dororo, I didn't know you worked so hard?..." Giroro was quite amazed, as he never helped the light blue Keron before with his gardening.  
"...well...It is how it is..."  
"...but Dororo...are you sure you're fine with this?..."  
"...don't worry Giroro-kun...I'm alright...I've gone through this countless numbers of times...so I'm alright..."

They continued on with the hard labor..._it wasn't the right term to explain it but still I'll use this term_...they enjoyed it a bit. But still they got dirty...

A message then echoed through the hall...via the intercom of the underground base.

"...Attention...All Keroro Platoon members please report to the briefing room for plans on the next mission...you could say...immediate attendance..." Mois voice was on the microphone as of now.

"...Maybe we should get going...huh Dororo..."  
"...Wait Giroro-kun...don't you think we should fix this stuff first..."  
"...Oh...never thought of that..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked through the hallway after fixing the stuff they had used...Giroro was wiping the dirt of himself while he was talking to Dororo.

"...what has Keroro have up his weird sleeve this time..."  
"...So Giroro-kun...what do you think will be Keroro-kun's plan this time..."  
"...hnn...Dororo...why are you so curious..."

The look in Dororo's eyes were reminding him of the answer. Dororo, with a sense of getting worried...had the expression plastered on his face.

"...I'm sorry Dororo...I remember why..."

Dororo was offended when endangering the planet was in question, whenever the plans had the words 'destroy' and 'earth' in them. He would be better off walking out than seeing the planet he got used to...get destroyed in the process...or even disrupting the environment was something he couldn't rather stand.

"...no Giroro-kun...it's alright..."

They continued on walking until they reached the briefing room. They pushed the door open to see the three other members, even though they were lazing off, were seated by the table doing nothing yet. The two took their seats as well as the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keroro started blurting out his plan. It involved cutting down the trees and disposing of them. As the trees are a main source of their air supply and the foundation for most of the objects laid out through Earth. It sounded perfect...but only for Keroro.

"...I wont tolerate this!..." Dororo exclaimed out.

The light blue ninja walked out the door, slamming it while he was at it. He was furious with the plan. It is clear he will never participate in plans such as these. Besides this, this is the most dangerous mission to be in.

"...Dororo..." Giroro ran after the ninja.  
"...eh...what's wrong with him..."

The two members along with Mois then complained about the plain laid out on the table.

"...sergeant...don't you think if we disposed of the trees...then there would be no Pekopon to conquer because everybody would end up dead...and that's not in the mission...well not yet..._kukukukuku_..."  
"...And Gunsou-san...don't you think that Momo-chii and the others are important...desuu..."  
"...you could say...total annihilation..."

I don't know if frogs need oxygen but still, Keroro was dead in his tracks. The complaints were right...he couldn't use this as a plan. He canceled this as a result.

Keroro you airhead...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the hallway. Giroro caught up with Dororo, as he was just walking briskly but silently. His feet were tapping on the metal flooring. Dororo calmed down...he wasn't that furious...not like Tamama...who would throw a fit for things unnecessary...but I'm just not sure if it was unnecessary this time. But scratching that out, Dororo was just fine . Giroro was running after Dororo, hoping to see him alright.

"...Dororo..." Giroro shouted through the hallway at the top of his breath.  
"...Giroro-kun..." Dororo turned around, pausing his movement.

Giroro caught up with his friend and apologized.

"...No...Giroro-kun...It's my fault...I shouldn't have done that..."  
"...Don't be...This time it was quite serious...so I would be better off blaming that stupid Keroro for that..."  
"...but...Giro--"  
"..don't say anymore...we're better off not talking about this..."

The red hand slipped onto the masked lips. Dororo nodded, just as a simple response. They walked back aboveground...hoping they could release their tension...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the sergeant's room...Kururu was tapping upon the keys of the keyboard of his top class laptop. He was rather bored and disappointed with the sergeant's plan of choice. As their mission was to conquer...not to kill Pekopon. As without the certain element...Pekopon would be just a pile of space rubble.

The yellow frog was laying on the floor, chewing his gum while he was scanning the files on his computer. He was rather bored...so he scanned the program for ... the security cam...

"..._kukukukuku_...I guess those two are at it again..."

He spotted Giroro and Dororo. Dororo was laying on the corporals lap...hoping to rest a bit. He linked his headphones to the sound feed and listened in.

"...Giroro-kun...don't you feel awkward when I'm on your lap..."  
"...hmm...why's that Dororo?..."  
"...I just wanted to know if..."  
"...Dororo...I'm just fine with you there...Like you and the way you work hard...I got used to it..."

It has been some time since their relationship had appeared and flourished more... so Giroro was always used to Dororo passing by almost every single day.

"...At first I felt that way...but now I feel closer to you..."  
"...It's been quite long since I've seen you like this...Giroro-kun..."  
"...heh...I guess it has..."

Meanwhile...Kururu kept tuning in to the conversation...and yet he was still bored...

"..._grunts_...this is beginning to get boring..."

Disappointed at the footage he tried to see as fun...he now thought of it as something as he could just watch like a daily TV show with a quite down going plot. He closed the feed and shut down his laptop. Walked back to his laboratory and, after typing a bit, slept on the high tech keyboard surface.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro and Dororo walked past the children's park...with their tensions aside them for the meantime. They just wanted some fun...even smiles could've helped.

"...I guess...things here on Pekopon are rather...similar to our planet...huh Giroro-kun?..."  
"...Yeah...It looks almost the same..."

They looked at the children running around and playing toys.

"...So what do you think will happen...once Keroro-kun conquers Pekopon?..." Dororo said in a rather worried voice. He looked down...just trying to not see the end result because the love for the planet has stayed in his mind and heart...

"...Well...I can't really tell..."  
"...I guess there are different outcomes to this, aren't there..."  
"...I know our mission is to take over Pekopon...but now I don't know if it's right, Dororo..."  
"...It's decided right...so I suppose we don't have a choice..._sighs_..."  
"...Dororo..."

They walked by the tree while they were invisible...quite different for a stroll but still...

Their minds wandered. They didn't know what to think of...as this day was having something rough spat all over the place. Confused if they wanted Keronians to rule Pekopon or not...they just tried to walk past it. They returned back home...trying to look normal. As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a quite regretful Keroro.

"...Dororo...I'm sorry about today's plan...It was quite harsh and I'll never do it again..."  
"...It's okay Keroro-kun...I accept your apology..."  
"...You should be more careful when picking your plans Keroro..."  
"...heh...I guess I should...I promise, Dororo...tomorrows plan wont offend you..._ well supposedly_..."

...but still there was a question lying beyond that...

...what was their plan when they do conquer Pekopon?...


	11. Lax

Giroro was alone for the day as he told Dororo to spend time for himself along with Koyuki...or maybe he could meditate or somethings near what he usually does. He was rather relaxed seated in front of his tent doing what he usually does....the weapons, for him, needed attention at times...quite weird....but still.

He was seated on the block laid outside the red tent with the design of eyes portrayed through the front.

"...I know I told Dororo that he could be by himself for today...besides we spent almost the whole week together...so..." He began speaking to himself.

He was already used to Dororo near him most of the time...and he missed him. However, they couldn't make their relationship obvious...as the only one who knew were Kururu, Koyuki and maybe Tamama...as the Private sometime listens in on the conversations that the two officers are speaking of. Koyuki because Dororo wanted to be honest on where he was going...he spilled it to Koyuki.

But somehow Koyuki didn't take it in weirdly...in fact she was happy for them being together. Understandable but still...there's something wierd in seeing that...guess Koyuki isn't that offended by these kind of relationships...

Oh...almost forgot about Garuru and Zoruru...their relationship looked similar as the Keroro Platoon Members.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He stared at the blue sky as the cat, Neko, passed by. Purring to the sight of her owner...well she wasn't appearing most of the time anymore. As she was constantly ignored by Giroro.

"...hmm...it's you...I don't see you come around here anymore..." Giroro started talking to the cat. Neko just purred...as it's the only language it could speak for the moment.

Giroro was grabbing for the toy inside his tent and just played with Neko for sometime. He didn't see Neko pass by his tent for days...well it does have feelings for Giroro so...maybe she was offended by Dororo staying by Giroro's side most of the time...oh well...

It was near noon and a Pekoponian face popped her head through the open door.

"...Hey Giroro...wan't to eat some lunch...?" It was Natsumi...  
"...huh...oh...I'll be there..."

Natsumi noticed the cat that Giroro was playing with.

'...It seems that cat is really attatched to you...huh Giroro..."  
"...Well...I..."  
"...You don't need to explain...I know you're a really nice guy..."  
"...heh...but remember, we're still enemies..."  
"...hmm...I look forward to sparring with you..."

It was supposedly ironic...but a challenge obviously awaited for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They all ate lunch together...the Hinata family and the Keroro Platoon...well most of them anyway, same goes for the Hinata's. Dororo and Aki weren't present...but it's rather obvious where they are now.

After all the food gone and the plates washed and organized, Giroro walked back outside, not spotting any trace of Neko...

"...Where'd she run off...?" He questioned out in the open.

He walked inside his tent after spotting this difference. He laid down on the pillow set on the tent flooring, rubbing his own head slowly.

"...I still wonder what Dororo feels...I haven't seem to get what goes through the rest of his mind...besides him being ignored...and weeps in..._yawns_...the corner..." His voice became softer by each word coming out of his lips...

His eyelids began to close. His hand began to slide. His thoughts began to wonder more.

The mood was silent...the figure overshadowing the front part of the tent on the other hand...it's quite opinionated...

"..._kukukuku_...time to have some fun..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He woke up but with his vision in quite a blur...

He had seen himself in the tent...

"..._yawns_...ughh...what time is it..." He stretched his arm into the air...

Everything seemed normal...everything was there. But Giroro didn't notice what was going on... He walked inside the house as he knew he already cleaned off his weapons about a countless number of times already. He maybe needed a walk inside the house...weird but they did have a base so I'll cancel the weird part...

He walked past the different areas laid out in the underground base. Seeing the two other Keroro Platoon members, Tamama and Keroro, doing their own business.

But then he passed by...the inventor's abode...the structure that looked like him, the difference was just that it had mechanical parts and that they were sticking out of I don't wanna know...

Hearing the soft snicker of the one who owned it inside...The red one was quite curious of what he does behind closed doors...Maybe the reason why Kururu's a smart yet creepy weirdo is because he's cooped up in there most of the time...heh...figures...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With no intention at all, Giroro knocked on the metal door sealing Kururu's entrance. He really didn't think of anything while he did it...but still his hand insisted on doing it...But for some reason the door opened. Giroro was quite startled...but still he slowly paced himself in the laboratory's entrance.

"...what am I doing?..." He spoke out like he didn't have control over his own body but he wasn't spaced out...

The tapping of his feet onto the smooth metal floor. He was just walking by...well maybe

"..._kuku_...I wasn't expecting you to come in here of all people..."  
"...Eh...well I'll just say I...have nothing else to do..."  
"..._kukuku_...but why come to me...you could do something else can't you..."

Kururu kept tapping his fingers upon the keyboard of his computer. His face was turned away from Giroro...just keeping his eyes on the computer screen.

"...I really don't know..."  
"...I see you and Dororo...like each other..._kuku_..."  
"...you keep on stalking us...don't you Kururu..."  
"...what...I'm bored too..."  
"...too?..."  
"...you barely could do anything interesting when you're not with Dororo..."  
"...heh..._I can't believe he noticed...damn Kururu_..."

Giroro just stood there in the background...annoyed with Kururu and his sneaky ways. He folded his arms plainly observing...

"..._Kururu...damn it..._..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro was wondering what was with all the mechanics in the space. Kururu was relentlessly scrolling his fingers on the keyboard...it was as if it was very important...but it wasn't. It was plainly incripted data that Kururu could understand...but still he's creepy. He barely speaks a word, he barely socializes...It's almost flatline.

"...Kururu...why is it that you're silent...you barely could speak a word that makes sense..."

Kururu didn't answer...Giroro asked another question.

"...All right...what do you do all day here..."

Still flatline...Giroro thought of something that could probably scare Kururu...

"...why are you scared when Mois stares at you..."

Now there was some response...then Kururu got an image reflected in his head. For him, it was disturbing. He began to cringe.

"...Get out..."

Giroro didn't understand at first but as Kururu's voice began to be much louder...it was understandable...

"...wimp..." Giroro whispered silently in his head. Kururu on the other hand was smashing his keyboard while his head was face down to the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...I didn't know it was this way..." Today he just realized it. Giroro once more laid on the tent flooring seeing some orange highlight through his tent...it signaled the sunset coming closer and closer.

There were those times when Dororo wasn't there but Giroro wasn't used to the fact yet. Then day by day Giroro was getting used to it...but he didn't notice this at all. His back was just cushioned to the soft floor. Is Giroro really like this?

Ever since he and Dororo were together...his mind stirred up questions...some are already answered but the others are still going through his head until they just fly out of his head... The sound of crickets was repetitive...but it wasn't annoying...

His ears were hearing everything...so he did hear some steps some from outside his domain... He sat up and pretended that he was cleaning...

..._for goodness sakes...how many time does Giroro have to shine his weaponry..._

"...Giroro-kun..." The voice was familiar...

"..._huh...Dororo..._..." Giroro thought to himself...he pulled the zipper of his tent front down...just to make sure...

He peaked at first and then completely opened the front of his tent...

"...Dororo..."  
"...Hi...Giroro-kun..."  
"...uhmm...I'm confused...I thought..."  
"...you told me to well...spend the day by myself..."  
"...oh...yeah...I did..."

Dororo followed Giroro inside his tent and spoke a bit more...

"...Giroro-kun...I missed you..."

Giroro's head rang in shock...they almost always think of the same things nowadays... He then caught the concept...

"...Giroro-kun..."  
"...Dororo...I...missed you too..."  
They wrapped their arms around each other…closing their eyes slowly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	12. Nightmare

Giroro was lying in his own red tent. He was using his sleeping bag and was tucked inside it. Morning was nearing and he was twisting and turning in his sleep. He had vivid feelings for Dororo but this time he was going to experience something he hasn't encountered yet.

Dororo on the other hand was also lying in bed. His futon wrapped around him while the tatami mat complemented the soft feeling. He was somehow much more comfortable than Giroro was. He already encountered dreams but that was before Giroro and Dororo's relationship got into place.

The night is somehow the creepiest time of the day. Even though we are unconscious, things can still haunt us or just come to us and try to imprint itself there. Caution is needed when this happens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun glared Giroro's eyes and woke him up from his sleep. He fixed himself up and walked out of his territory. Stretching his arms he sniffed the air surrounding him. It was, a matter of fact, refreshing and made him feel a bit invigorated.

"...A new day, I suppose..." He whispered to himself.

Passing the back door of the house, he decided to walk out the back entrance. He didn't know why but still he just needed to walk. Normally taking a stroll would just take things off someone's mind. Maybe that's one reason Giroro walked.

He passed by the children's park. Seeing the playful children, he cloaked himself and went closer. He hid by the tree and plainly stared at them blankly.

"...Pekopon...Now that I think of Dororo, do I still want to invade this place?"

This was one of the questions vividly appearing in the warriors head. He all of a sudden put into thought the results if they have invaded Pekopon...was it good for all of them? He walked away and turned back to the Hinata residence, where his tent stood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gulping the bottle of water he grabbed from the fridge, Giroro walked underground to the firing range. He felt he could use an exercise, just to get himself hype. He entered the room and the targets were set. He grabbed one f the guns aligned on the shelf and slipped on the goggles that were also there.

Giroro began pulling the trigger. Bang after bang, the bullets began discharging from the gun. Blasting the board, he got them almost at the center. It was still close though. The board was blasted to bits when he hit more.

"..._tsk_...I shouldn't be wasting my gun on this..." He only thought of it after he obliterated the target, quite empty minded of him.

After he put back all of the stuff back to where it was supposed to be, he began to walk out with a towel on his shoulders. The the beads of sweat were running down his crimson red head. The warrior was puffing a bit. He puffed lightly, let out his breath and walked slowly in the hallway.

He closed his eyes but still he was walking. The hallway was straight and had no curves or intersections in the meantime. His thoughts were quite empty for this time. For being the serious type, he began to become much more lax. Was it because of Dororo, but truly Giroro couldn't blame Dororo for this, could he?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night time was getting closer and Giroro was eating dinner along with Keroro and the Hinata's. Giroro was silently nibbling on the food laid out on the table, somewhat he wasn't ill-mannered like Keroro when he eats. His plate was half empty and the others just ate and talked a bit. Minutes passed and Keroro wanted to speak to Giroro about something.

He called him after they finished eating dinner.

"...Keroro, what the heck do you wanna talk to me about..."  
"...Well, could I ask you..."

Keroro was slightly hesitant.

"...what is it..."  
"...have you noticed that Dororo is happier. And he even visits more..."

Giroro was speechless for a few seconds. Giroro never told Keroro about their relationship. And besides Keroro was his childhood friend, would it be best to tell him that Dororo is what he is now.

"...I didn't seem to notice that..." but the truth was that he was thinking this, "_crud, I don't want Keroro to find out. What the heck should I do?_"

"...Oh, I see. It's because I seem to see Dororo happier than before and it's nice to see that. I thought you would've known. Ok uh see ya..."

At least the conversation didn't last as long as Giroro expected. He was relieved and walked a bit quick back outside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night arrived and the moon and the stars shined over Pekopon. Everything was silent but Giroro on the other hand, was barely feeling right.

The corporal kept twisting and turning under his sheets. He gripped them tightly and was breathing heavily. The sweat ran down his body intensely. He began talking in his sleep, even shouting. He was shaking greatly in fear. He was having a nightmare that he'd rather not see.

Inside the conscience of the fearful Giroro, he was standing in the middle of a black place. The dream turned out that it was very creepy for him. He walked around a bit. His steps echoing through the dome of darkness.

"...Helloo!...Is anybody here..." His voice echoed through the abyss.

"...What's going on..." Even though he just whispered this to himself, it still echoed through nothing.

He began to walk faster. His ears began to hear some things like cackling. The crimson red frog began to shiver as the cold feeling got to him. When the truth was he barely had any sheets on in the real world.

"...Have I been going around in cir...WHAA!..."

He tripped over something that he couln't see in the dark.

"...What the heck was that..." He rubbed his head in curiousity.

Corporal Giroro turned around and saw what he probably didn't want to see. A dead Keronian... He kept twisting and turning and saw more blood around him. He started running. He kept seeing this disturbing image over and over again as he walked through an endless hallway with a dim lighting.

Then there were the sound of bombs echoing throughout the illusion.

"...No....This can't be happening again!..."

As this was only fiction, it was nearly true to life. The war on Pekopon way back when they were back on Planet Keron, when the war took place. Many Keonians were lost during this battle. Giroro didn't show much emotion, or maybe he did. He was frightened that he seen his friends dead there on the battlefield. He wasn't sure if he could take it that much.

He barely had a weapon on him and his fear got the best of him. Well, maybe this wasn't his greatest fear but yes it was. The sounds became louder and his fright was on an all out high level. His breath kept escaping his mouth as he continued running from the monsters that killed so many.

He kept going in every curve and intersection in the way, just to run away from darkness' horibble end-products. His eyes were beginning to tear up and the last thing he wanted was to get killed.

And then he encountered a dead end. He was trapped, but not exactly. The stomping halted when he reached there. He was slightly relieved but as he moved closer, he began to spot a light blue body. There was red spatter everywhere and then he saw no life from the light blue Keron.

He tried to get a good eye in the dark but still...he was shouting his lungs out.

"...DORORO!...NOOOOOO!..."

The ninja looked like a skewered barbeque with a puncture to his chest, his eyes wide open and his weapon pinned on the wall adjacent to him. Giroro ran backwards but out of nowhere.

"......GAA..."

He felt blood run down his chin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro's eyes opened to the morning sky. He was freaked out and his eyes were almost like they were going to pop out of their sockets. He sat up quickly to see if he wasn't injured badly like what happened in his nightmare. His breath got racing and he began to jump out of his tent.

Fortunately, yes it was all just a nightmare. He sighed in relief and got back inside his tent. He stared at his belt laid out on the floor.

"...All of them, they're all dead..."

He grabbed his belt and slowly buckled it up. He was remembering this bad memory of his life that he never wanted to encounter. Even though he is strong, he never wanted to see this again. His eyes began to tear up.

8:00 am, the sun was up and the clouds were floating by. Giroro was a bit sad to think of this.

"...Thank goodness, Dororo isn't one of them..."

Speaking of Dororo, he had just arrived at the Hinata residence. He let himself in, seeing that no one was there in the house, besides Keroro, but seeing how Keroro treats him, it is doubtful that Keroro would let Dororo inside with some manners.

"...Giroro-kun..." The ninja said. His voice echoed through the house.

He then slid the door where Giroro's tent was. He stepped out and saw no of Giroro outside his tent. He moved closer to the tent with Giroro's eyes on it and saw the zipper not completely zipped up. He pushed the zipper down, to find Giroro lying on the mat with his eyes a bit watery. He was gripping his belt tightly asn it was starting to get unbuckled.

"...Giroro-kun, what's wrong..." Dororo moved closer to his best friend.

"...they're all gone..." He still gripped the belt with the soft voice.

Dororo sat beside Giroro and helped him sit up. The warrior was still crying ,but now it was even harder than a while ago. He repeated what he said, making his voice louder. He nuzzled his head onto Dororo's shoulder and closed his eyes while he whimpered.

"...Giroro-kun...It's all right. You don't need to cry..." His hand went rubbing on the red back. He comforted him the best that he could.

Giroro's eyes were pouring out emotion. It hurt really bad.

"..._That belt of his...it means something to him_..." Dororo began thinking to himself.

"...Dororo..._sob_..."  
"...Yes, Giroro-kun?"  
"...Please, don't leave...me"

Dororo was quite shocked. He never heard Giroro say this nor did he ever see him cry this hard. The last words stated kept echoing in Dororo's mind relentlessly.

"...I won't ever leave you Giroro-kun..."

He kissed his forehead and lied next to Giroro, just to cheer him up. His hug was the most important thing that Giroro needed this time.


	13. Forgetting

The day came in quite cold but in the meantime, The Keroro Platoon were battling off a Nyororo that escaped from it's cage. Nobody knows why the Nyororo was in the base in the first it's Keroro or Kururu, who knows? They were in deep contant with a gigantic Nyororo. It smashed everything in it's way and it tried it's hardest to suck the moisture out of the Keroro Platoon.

The constant gunfire and slashing hurt the Nyororo little by little.

"...How the hell did the Nyororo get here!..." Giroro Gochou was still firing his gun at the monster.  
"...Don't know..._kukukukuku_..." The guns kept firing.  
"...This Nyororo is quite strong..." The slashing kept on brewing for Dororo Heichou.  
"...TAMAmA...IMPACT..." The Private was in a serious tantrum.  
"...Get it away from me! GIKU!!!" As the sergeant was trying to run away from being sucked to death by the giant monster,

There were now destroyed parts of the Keroro Platoon's base. The Nyororo looked as if it had a mind of it's own, a very smart mind for some reason. The debris was getting thrown back and forth and everybody tried to dodge or hit it, in order to be safe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The giant room was enclosed by metal walls and had contained many pipes and other fixtures that triggered some part of the power supply and stuff related to this.

"...This monster has got a lot of nerve...GrrAAH.." Giroro moved forward and charged.  
"...I'll help you Giroro-kun..." Dororo simply requested as he kept running on the walls at an alarming rate. A nod was an agreement from Giroro.

They charged both at the same time. Hoping they both could corner the nasty Nyororo with a quite strong attack. But now, it seemed it wasn't right to do that.

**SLAM**

"...UgHH..." They both got slammed onto the wall. Giroro hit the metal plating with his back hitting it first. Dororo on the other hand slammed onto the wall, head-first.

They both ended up unconscious and unable to see what would happen next...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3:00PM...Two members of the Keroro Platoon were checked in the infirmary in order for their rehabilitation to get into place. The two were still unconscious up to this point.

Giroro slowly woke up and saw the flickering light with the pale colored ceiling up there. He felt the tight wrap of bandages almost all over his body. His first impulse was to get out of here but his body wouldn't let him.

"...Where am I?...AACK..."  
"...Giroro-kun...your awake..."  
"...Pururu...?"  
"...You should rest, your wounds haven't healed yet."

Chief Medic Pururu of the Garuru Platoon was attending to the heavily damaged Giroro. She let Giroro lie back onto his bed. But the question was, what was she doing here? Did she manage to spot the havoc created by the devastating, giant nyororo in the Keroro Platoon's base?

"...I must've gotten a beating from that stupid nyororo..."  
"...Giroro-kun, you should rest..."  
"...but...WaiT, what happened to Dororo...AAAH..."

He rose up from his bed again and then he received the painful feedback of his injuries. It was as if every bone in his body was shattered to pieces of nano specks. Pururu rushed to his aid again and wrapped Giroro up a bit tightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pururu finished some things up and grabbed some hydrogen peroxide from the adjacent medicine cabinet. She found out that she ran out of the substance and needed some more. She ran out of the room, telling Giroro to stay where he was so that nothing wrong would happen again.

The room was silent, until...

"...Giroro.."  
"...nii-chan, so you're here too."

Garuru, Giroro's brother, also was here. He walked into the room without any expression on his face.

"...It seemed the nyororo hurt you badly..."  
"...yeah...It really hurts to get beaten by a nyororo that size..._cringe_..."  
"...you're lucky it didn't suck you up..."

Giroro nodded lightly with the fact. Garuru moved closer and sat next to his bandaged brother. He let out a sigh and put his hand on Giroro's head and began rubbing it softly. Giroro closed his eyes for a brief moment and reminisced about the kindness Garuru gave to him as a kid. There were also rough times, but seeing that they got past through that, they had to continue on with their lives.

"...so, do you feel better?..." Garuru lifted his hand and but it by his side.  
"...nii-chan...it's embarrassing."  
"...well, I guess you're okay for the meantime..._smile_

Giroro blushed slightly to the thought that Garuru was close to him. Ever since that incident happened with him and Zoruru, he's been a nice guy toward Giroro. Quite weird but still it was understandable. Garuru stayed by his brother's bedside for the rest of the afternoon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days flew by as Giroro could walk by himself but his arm still felt crushed. He needed a few more days to heal from his injuries. No havoc was brewing over the past day's of his recovery, besides the fact that Keroro does many stupid stuff with the platoon's funds, everything was alright.

"...So nii-chan, what happened with that nyororo?..."  
"...We captured it and put it in a containment unit we had in the base. Luckily, it won't escape for a long time and we'll send it somewhere barren when the time comes..."  
"...I hope it's taken care of..."

The two were walking down the hallways of the Keroro Platoon Base. It felt weird having the First Lieutenant walking around here. Giroro had a sense of insecurity and jealousy when it comes to his older brother. He had a higher rank than himself, it was probably degrading or someone to look up to- one thing that Giroro does when it involved his brother.

The color of the sky was quite blue. Giroro got to feel cold bliss rush through his hat. He closed his eyes and then remembered.

"...nii-chan, I forgot to ask you...what happened to Dororo?..."  
"...Well,..."  
"...I barely seen him for days...I really missed him. Can you take me to where he is, nii-chan?..."  
"...Well, I'll just take you there..."

Garuru only said that. He felt a bit uncomfortable hearing his brother say that. He now frequently uses 'nii-chan'. Not like the last time he visited but the truth is it was just alright. The fact that Giroro felt close to him as his brother. He led him back to the infirmary but to Dororo's room. It was quite a long trip but it was just a short time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_'Room 266.  
Occupant: Dororo Heichou,_

It was stated on the small white card by the closed door. Giroro was hesitant to open the door but eventually he got his focus up and running. There he saw Zoruru seated next to Dororo's bedside.

"...Is the whole platoon here, nii-chan?," He was quite flustured saying that, the crimson frog.  
"...No, we left Tororo and Taruru back in the ship. We had to leave someone to watch over the thing. And we really wanted to see how you were doing..."  
"...We, huh...?"

Dororo still laid in his bed, wrapped with bandages by his head, arms, and chest... and still unconsious. Girorolooked at him steadily but still he felt a bit hurt on the inside.

"...has he been unconsious this long...?"  
"...no, he opened his eyes at times and spoke a bit. But still he's weak and he needs his rest..." Zoruru replied.

Then slowly, Dororo's eyes began to open.

"...Dororo, you're awake..."  
"...hnn...my head still hurts..."

Giroro felt a bit lighter and all of a sudden, got down onto his knees and breathed out heavily.

"...Thank goodness...you're okay..."  
"...but..."

Dororo was in slight shock. Not as in a medical condition but just in awe.

"...who are you?..."

He said silently in that small room. Giroro then stood up and opened his eyes...

"...what do you mean, Dororo?"  
"...sorry sir, but...I really don't know who you are..."

Dororo was a bit weak physically and had a soft voice still. But judging by how he was saying it...It was obviously not a joke...

"...please, Dororo...pLEASE, tell me you're joking..."

Giroro grasped Dororo's shoulders and felt himself trembling greatly. He kept repeating his words while the two members of the Garuru Platoon were just speechless watching the scene. They felt that they couldn't do anything to ease the situation.

"...GET OFF ME!..."

Dororo yelled at the top of his lungs. Giroro on the other hand couldn't believe it...his own best friend...had forgotten about him. Dororo had a case of amnesia. But for some reason, the part where Giroro was, got flushed out of his mind like water. He remembered the rest; Keroro, his childhood- most of it- , and even he knew more about Zoruru now. He suffered that bad.

"...no...this can't be happening..."

The rain was heavily pouring. The thunder shattered the momentary silence. Giroro felt his legs wobble in fear and shock. His eyes were still wide open. His injuries began to pry open, his heart having a constricted feel, his arms feeling like shattered glass. His tears began to roll down his cheeks. Giroro's head was spinning in circles, cyring silently. He lost his own best friend...

...everything wasn't right.. 


	14. Rehabilitate

Giroro felt his heart shatter into pieces as the ninja, who liked him since childhood, had his memories of the crimson frog run out of his head. His memories of him were gone like erasing pencil doodles of a piece of paper properly. Dororo had felt a slight sense of shock as he felt, to him, unfamiliar and strange as the corporals hands shook him back and forth. He turned away and looked at Zoruru rather than at Giroro.

"...What's going on...tell me...this is...a dream..." Giroro's voice trembled.  
"...Giroro, let's go..." Garuru helped his younger brother up and led him out of the Lance Corporal's room.

Giroro felt like he couldn't breathe. He never felt this emotional since that time when he had that nightmare. But this was even worse than what happened then, as the one who helped him through that...now can't remember who he was.

"... Zoruru-dono, who...was that...?" Dororo took grasp of his sheets and just kept them in his hands tightly.  
"...You really don't remember him Zeroro...are you really sure about that?..."  
"...I really don't know, I'm sorry..."

Dororo tried to reach for Zoruru's hands. However his hands were shaking badly. He felt that the scene a while ago was even worse than how it really was. His head was probably playing games on him this time...

Zoruru sat next to Dororo and tried to explain some parts of the situation.

But Dororo just hugged him tightly in fear.

"_...Zeroro, I never knew he was this scared..._..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...NII-CHAN!...what's happening...!"  
"...Dororo has a case of amnesia...as they say it here on Pekopon...He lost some part of his memory. It will take time for him to recover."  
"...but why Pururu, why?..."

They were out in the hallway, far away from Dororo's room. Pururu had explained the light blue Keron's state as she overheard Giroro shout. While Garuru was there leaning against the metal plating of the base walls. His head was tilted down and he was in deep thought.

"_...Those two have been friends ever since we were all back on our planet...I guess Giroro is taking this really hard...Let me hope this just some medical condition...I can't bare seeing him like this_"

Pururu had explained everything and left for a while; her face also quite sad. Giroro changed moods from sadness to anger. Punching the wall, he spat out countless numbers of words.

"...I should have never let Dororo do that...It's my fault that he lost his memory. Dororo, I want you back! All those days we were together...now they're lost because of me!"  
"...Giroro, get a hold of yourself. It couldn't be helped..."  
"...but Nii-chan!..."  
"...I've never seen you like this Giroro. I thought you were stronger than this.."

Giroro began tearing up and wrapped his arms around his older brother.

"...what am I going to do nii-chan...The only one I love doesn't even remember me..."  
"...We'll just have to wait Giroro..."

Garuru patted him on the back as he felt Giroro's tears run down his shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of hours passed as Giroro cried himself to sleep. Garuru was still there next to him, hoping that he would calm down about the situation. The lieutenant was also part of some of Giroro's good memories but the rest...he was hanging out with his friends or listening to heavy metal. It's what he considered normal.

He saw an opportunity to get out of the room to check on how things were going with Dororo, but first, he was quite hesitant to leave his brother's bedside. He stared at his red face along with the scar on it. He touched it gently, hoping that he wouldn't do anything to disturb him. Wiping the tears of the corner of his eye, Garuru began to think of his brother quite differently.

"...I can't seem to get my mind past my own little brother...I really missed him. But I know he'll never change..."

Lifting his hand off his brother's red skin, he walked towards the door.

Meanwhile, in the other room. Zoruru was looking after Dororo. His mind was all rattled up on why he wouldn't attack Dororo while he was down. He was all up and about killing the one who gave him this metal plated body. In some parts he liked it, the power and features but the rest didn't feel right.

On the other side of things, Dororo kept scrolling his eyes over the book placed into his hands. It was all about nature and stuff like that. For now, he probably could put up a conversation with his former classmate, as Zoruru was.

"...Zoruru-dono..." Dororo put the book down and looked at his rather robotic friend.  
"...What is it, Zeroro..." The cyborg's voice was quite shrill as he opened up his mechanical eye.  
"...Can you forgive me for what I did to you?..."  
"...quit asking such unreasonable questions at this time, Zeroro..."  
"...but Zoruru-dono, I want to know..."  
"...just shut up..."

Zoruru walked out of the room, instead of wanting to slash his foe into nothing.

"...I guess this means that, he's still mad about what happened..." Dororo silently uttered.

The window was still depicting the gloomy weather outside. It was still pouring rain and the drops started to run down the glass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zoruru was walking briskly down the hallway and he was quite furious. Garuru spotted him stomping his feet onto the floor.

"...Zoruru, what's the matter?..."

But Zoruru just passed his purple leader, and yet his lover. Zoruru seemed to be consumed by the fact that Dororo did something to him in the past. However, not many people and Kerons know about this incident.

Passing that, Garuru entered the light blue lance corporal's room.

"...So Dororo, how are you feeling...?"  
"...Much better. Thank you for asking Garuru-dono..."  
"...Can you walk?..."  
"...I'll try. I haven't walked tht much for a while..."

Dororo got out of his sheets and let his feet touch the carpeting. He took each step slowly yet it looked like he could do it. No crutches were in place but to be sure, Garuru suggested he be strapped into a wheelchair for now, as his pace was quite slow.

"...I haven't seen outside for sometime...I have been seeing the same scenery for days when I look out the window..."  
"...We'll see through that tomorrow. It's already late and you should get your sleep..."  
"...Yes, Garuru-dono..."

Garuru was near to walking out the door of his younger brother's friend or rather patient until...

"...Garuru-dono, could I possibly ask you something?..."  
"..._*turns around*_...What is it Dororo?..."  
"...Do you know why Zoruru-dono is still angry at me?..."

Dororo was quite childish still. His tears, some of his memories and some other things but the rest, he was considered one strong frog. And as well as there were some things unanswered in his head of his. He needed to know at least one thing.

"...I'm sorry Dororo, only Zoruru knows the answer to that..."  
"...Oh, I see...well, good night Garuru-dono..."  
"..Yes, see you tomorrow..._* switches off light*_

Dororo wrapped his sheets back around himself and slowly shut his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning arrived. The sun glared Corporal Giroro in the face with the sunlight intensified by the glass window. He stirred up and walked next to the window. He pointed his finger to the moist surface and began to draw. The circle then turned into someone he knew...in fact it was Dororo.

"...He's close to me ,but he feels so far away now..." He silently whispered to himself, hoping to not wake his sleeping older brother on the chair in front of his bed.

He opened up the window and felt the warm sunlight shine on him. Leaning on the window pane, his eyes scanned the sky and the ground...all of a sudden, memories of Dororo and him started to infiltrate his head. He let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes.

The fresh air blew through the opening. The cold breeze felt nice but Giroro's chest felt as if it died. As if everything shut down.

"...So you can't seem to cope from this, can you?..."

Giroro felt his brothers purple hands rubbing onto his shoulders.

"...Nii-chan, you startled me..."  
"...It's different for me to see you like this. I know we've had our differences, but I don't like how you're acting now. It's not right."  
"...I can't live anymore without Dororo next to me...He's the best person who came into my life"

His older brother slapped him across the face.

"...What the HeLL are you saying!"  
"...but, nii-chan..."

Garuru then sensed the scared tone in his younger brother's voice. He didn't realize this until he moved closer back to his brother's side. He wrapped his arm over the red shoulder and adjusted his tone down.

"...I know it'll get better. It's not the end of the world. So you better be strong or I'll punch you hard."  
"...I'll try doing that, nii-chan ..."  
"...You better..."

But still, Corporal Giroro didn't know what to do. There were the countless numbers of times he actually passed by Dororo's room last night. And every time he looked through the door, he felt scared to ever go through that. He needed to get better but all that went through his head was the blue lover he had.

"...Dororo, I need you back..." He uttered silently in his head. 


	15. Emptiness

Weeks passed as if they were months. It had been quite some time ever since that Dororo had lost his memory of Giroro. But to him, it was hard to see who that red warrior was. It was merely a blur to him at the time being. He had healed from all of his injuries and was able to go outside and breathe the fresh air. As well as do the exercises he longed to do.

Giroro ,on the other hand, was still caught up in tangles. He was feeling the loneliness he never wished. Holding back all the tears he wanted to let out like a faucet. It was hard for him to let Dororo recollect their memories together. It was beginning to get to his mind that it will never come back and that he has to start out from scratch. But scratch started out since they were kids, and certainly years are hard to gain in one time. He sat inside his tent, hoping he could find the answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer was already starting that time, which means that the heat would begin to get prickly and annoying but still the fun activities at the beach were nearing. Most of the people, mostly children and teenagers alike, were looking forward to those times. Speaking of fun, there's going to be the summer festival. Most probably, at the shrine near Koyuki's house. Most of them were sure they'd have a blast when they got there.

Koyuki was being dropped off by Natsumi. Quite unlikely, but yes it happens. They were talking as to just pass the time.

"...It's been sometime since I had been to your house, Koyuki..."  
"...Well, I'm glad you wanted to accompany me there..."  
"...No problem..."

Then, by chance, they had passed by the bottom of the staircase leading up to the shrine.

"...Hey, I've heard that their setting the summer festival up there..."  
"...Really?..."  
"...Yeah, so I was wondering...want to join me in going..."  
"...You really mean it!..."  
"...We'll have so much fun..."

A bit of chit-chat after that. Then later on they split and went back to their own houses. Natsumi and Koyuki were both excited.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the house, Keroro was planning something to invade Pekopon once more. Thins time it involved something to do with the summer festival. He then explained the mission, however it was mostly about Pekoponians buying their stuff. It was quite redundant.

It was the same old routine, but something didn't feel right this time. Keroro felt the vibe wasn't right, even though he had that quite no-brainer intellect of his. He looked around the room. Tamama was applauding to the idea. Kururu was a lazy genius, chewing his gum noisily. But somehow the other two members were quite passive. No movement, no speech, just some sighs and that was it.

He looked at his right side and saw Giroro just sitting there with no intention to punch him or kick him or whatever, at his left, he saw Dororo looking down to the floor with no eye contact with anyone at the table with no complaints on how it could affect Pekopon. It was merely blank...

"...Giroro-Gocho, what do you think?..."  
"...Yeah, It's alright...*sigh*..."  
"...Dororo-heicho, can you say anything about it?..."  
"...Nothing, taicho-dono..."

Keroro was quite curious.

_"...what's the matter with these two...they've been like this for days...ITS GETTING ANNOYING!..."_

The sergeant's head was filled with these questions and the annoying fact that this is getting in the way of the missions they've been conducting this time around. He kept looking left and right, seeing their upset faces. In a few minutes, the discussion was over but Keroro didn't start the mission immediately. He called back Giroro in the room and questioned him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...Giroro, what's the problem..."  
"...what are you talking about, Keroro? "

Giroro looked at Keroro, trying to keep a straight face, and spoke to him like it was any other ordinary conversation. However his mind was still focusing on something else.

"...You didn't punch me up or anything, No screaming or anything..."  
"...what's that supposed to do with anything?..."  
"...You've been acting strange, you barely react to anything..."

Keroro kept speaking of what Giroro had been doing for the couple of past meetings. He _had_ been quite lax. Then something snapped.

"...tell me what's wrong, Giroro..."  
"...THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!..."

Keroro moved a step back and tried to calm his red friend down, but all he got was one heck of a yell.

"...WHO CARES IF I'M JUST LAZY!...YOU DO IT, WHY CAN'T I!..."  
"...but..."  
"...just shut up..."

Giroro walked out on the sergeant and slammed the door. Keroro was still in awe.

"...did I do something wrong?..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keroro didn't know that his two best friends were actually more than what they were...He was merely confused at the display. He didn't know about when Dororo's memory got erased as soon as his head smashed onto the wall. He was busy running around like a complete scaredy-cat to notice. He was now in a confused state,

Meanwhile, Dororo was slowly pacing the grassy backyard. He then saw the tent with some familiar looking eyes. It popped into his head but just as an ordinary thought.

_"...It's just a tent...nothing special..."_ It went through his head.

He walked away from it and slowly tried to get his grip together.

_"...what makes me come back here..."_

He tried to strengthen his memory, but it just couldn't come to him. He kept walking about in circles and kept seeing a rather blurry image. He couldn't decipher the things being projected to him by his rather corrupted mindset. It was all too wierd to see. The ninja was beginning to think that this was too much to bare...so he ran away.

_"...I don't get it. What is that?..."_

He questioned himself. It was a question he could've answered, if only his memory would make him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro was alone in the hallway. He, once again ,kept slamming his fist onto the metal plated wall, just like sometime back. He hated how it all was...so what does he do now.

"...DAMN IT!!!!..." It resonated and bounced onto the steel up until the end of the hall and back again.  
"...Giroro-senpai...what's the problem..._kukukukuku_..."

Kururu had suddenly appeared out of the blue. Somewhat like a ghost. He had an ironic tone saying that...maybe he was planning on something, but that'll just be left for later.

"...Kururu, quit doing that. It's already creepy as it is..."  
"...Heh, look whose talking..."  
"...WhAT..."

Giroro clenched his fist tightly, hoping that he could smack the life out of that yellow scientist.

"...Look at yourself, your like in a soap opera..."  
_"...do I really look like that..."_  
"...well, it's your decision. Leave things the way they are...or change it..."  
"...but how...How do I get it back?..."  
"...that's for you to find out..._kukukukuku_..."

Giroro never thought he's hear something like that from someone who usually torments him, blackmails him or just tests him with a number of experimental weapons. The scientist turned about and walked away from the desperate red frog.  
It was all too redundant for Giroro. Over and over again, he felt rage build up inside of him almost every single day.

Kururu was right...he needed to do something about it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dororo was in his humble abode along with Koyuki. He was simply meditating on the floor laid out with tatami mats. Everything was silent, until he heard a knock on the door.

"...Dororo-senpai..."  
"...Hmm, Tamama...what is he doing here?..."  
"...Dororo-senpai, are you there?..."

Yes, Tamama was knocking on the shouji door. It was quite unlikely for him to be knocking on the lance corporal's door like this but even though, Dororo slid open the door and saw the young private standing there.

"...What brings you here Tamama.?"  
"...Senpai...Well, you forgot this..."

Tamama brought out from the back the case to Dororo's sword. I guess Dororo didn't notice that before he left. He handed it over while Dororo was in confusion. His head being preoccupied with those thoughts that keep disturbing him, this must've skipped his mind.

"...Thank you, Tamama..." He bowed his head for gratitude.

Then he looked back up and noticed that Tamama was having a thought. His head tilted up slightly and and hand waving back and forth.

"...Tamama-kun...is there something wrong?..."  
"...Ah, no. But I heard they're holding the festival near here, is that true?..."  
"...Well, yes...but why do you ask..."

Tamama was preoccupied in his head.. thinking about something like this.

_"...Yes, now my plan will go into progress. I'll ask Gunso-san to go with me and then by the time the fireworks come..."_

And the rest was just mortifying yet predictable.

"...Bye, Dororo-senpai... I'll see you at the festival..."

He winked at the ninja and ran off downhill with his smile plastered to his young face and his plan intact in his head until the time he got to the Hinata household.

"...Man, that kid is weird..." 


	16. Silhouette

_"..Are you okay?..."__  
__"...Yes...I am..."__  
__"...Well, let me help you up. I'm sure you won't go far with that leg..."__  
__"...but..."__  
__"...no complaining...we'll have to get to the rendezvous point..."__  
__"...thank you,........."_

It was all a mere blur in his head. Dororo woke up from a rather peculiar dream. He pondered on what in the world did he just see there. It was a figure that was quite unrecognizable to him. He was trying to shake it off his mind as he got up and got out that door.

"...what's going on...?" He rubbed his head in confusion.

The answer was so near but yet so hard to grasp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The festival was today and a lot of people were excited, including Koyuki. She was giddy just by waking up ,alone. She saw Dororo and bidded him a good morning. They ate and then afterwards they were off somewhere.

Meanwhile, at the Hinata residence.

" Finally, we get to start our plan!..." Keroro shouted out as the other officers were seated.  
_"...well, everything wen't back to normal..."_ it was going on in Giroro's head as he noticed something.

Things had gone back to normal. Keroro was gloating. Tamama was admiring. Kururu was creepy. And the last detail that Giroro didn't overlook, Dororo was now forgotten and not there anymore. He kept looking on the other side of that room. Imagined that there was something much more special on that empty chair.

And still he whisperes to himself... "...Dororo, I....want you back...."

Indeed most of the details were back in order... but that red puzzle piece can't seem to dry up from soaking himself up in tears and couldn't fit in with that jigsaw puzzle.

Nobody else noticed...he was still grieving on his lost memories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Under the gushing water...he sat there all by himself. He meditated calmly under the waterfall, hoping to get his nerves straight. His eyes were shut as the surroundings were merely serene. The fresh bluster of wind on the blue face... His breath was as if it was synchronized with the waves of air passing by... It was...nearly perfect.

As the surroundings were nearly empty of people, it was odd for him to hear something.

_"...Dororo...I'm sorry..."_

He looked around and then felt the cold temperature of the water brush up against his skin. His strong composure got shattered in an instant as he heard that somewhat unfamiliar voice.

He jumped out of the freezing waterfall and looked all around to see if there was really someone there but shockingly there wasn't.

"...Who...who...is he?..."

A sudden image appeared in his head and yet again it was all black with the gleaming light from behind. There were so many colors. A group of brilliant lights vanishing with the stars... What did it all mean?

He shook his head back an forth and walked aimlessly around the area.

"...I need to know...who is he?..."

He repeated once more...and again and again. The question didn't go past him but circled around his mind countless numbers of times. He was being haunted by this mere figment of his imagination.

However, as of now, it's not just him thats mortified.

"..GO AWAY!..." The ninja just shouted it out loud , making the birds fly off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...Does this look okay on me?..."  
"...*nods happily*...YES!...it looks great..."

That was Koyuki and Natsumi, trying out kimonos to wear at the festival. They were really excited.

"...this is going to be fun..."

Natsumi just whispered to herself, as she had an image of Saburo being there with her, hand in hand. Then at the right moment...he would...well, that's Natsumi. She nearly screeched her head off.

Afternoon had become an already orange sky. And to go with the orange hue, Natsumi had picked and orange kimono while Koyuki had gone with a blue one.

"...wow, you two look great..."

Now Keroro was complementing the two... in an overreactive type of way. The members of the platoon were there. Tamama and Keroro were there looking at what the two girls were wearing along with Fuyuki's. He was going there too.  
Kururu was sitting on the couch, snickering away creepily...but yes, this is normal.

Natsumi was so happy but then her eyes rolled across the room an saw something that was somehow unusual...A red frog with a sad expression depicted on his face while he was sitting down at the corner of the room. Now this was abnormal.

She moved closer to him while the rest of the crowd was left speaking about a countless number of stuff.

"...Giroro..."

Giroro was merely sitting there as if he was lifeless. It was as if he couldn't hear anything. She sat next to him asking...

"...Giroro...are you all right?..."  
"...Yes, I am..."  
"..You sure.. it doesn't look that way...?..."  
"...Yes, I'm sure. It's just nothing..."

Then Giroro averted his eyes away for a moment and then he began speaking a bit softly.

"...Natsumi, you look nice in that kimono..."  
"...Thank you ,Giroro. That's really nice of you..."

All of a sudden Giroro felt a bit fuzzy inside as well as him feeling some warmth come to his cheeks along with a red tint go across them. Natsumi stood up and put her hand out.

"...Why not come with me to the festival?. " She said it with a smile.  
"...No, I might ruin your night. You just have fun by yourself..."  
"...Nonsense, it'll be fun..."  
"...but...Natsumi, why are you doing this?..."

It was a silent moment and Natsumi got her thoughts together.

"...Well, maybe you need some time to at least relax..."  
"...But why me..."  
"...Because..."  
"...Because, what?..."  
"...You see, Giroro. Even though I say bad stuff about you frogs. It just isn't the same when you aren't here. Keroro, Tamama, Kururu....and..."

She paused again. Giroro was a bit frustrated about thisbut still he kept his cool.

"...and what, Natsumi? "  
"...you..."  
"...WHA...ME!...."  
"...Well you've helped me out a lot. The least I could do is to repay you for what you've done for me.

After that statement, he suddenly thought silently in his head.

_"...I don't know if I should accept this...I mean, she's a Pekponian... And is she serious...Well...is she really...asking ME!...._

He panicked and felt a bit warm. All that he could do was...maybe accept.

"...Come on let's go..."  
" ...uhh, ok...let's go..."

All of a sudden Giroro thought of Natsumi in a rather friendly manner or maybe a bit more than he intended. While Natsumi's thoughts had gotten rid of the thought that Saburo may or may not be there.

The sky was beginning to get orange and so they had gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_" what's making me come here... I don't understand. I didn't intentionally want to come here...but still I did..."_

He was stepping into the gate of the shrine. He barely got a grip of what he was doing. Dororo was confused, head to foot, and was aimlessly walking around.

_"...he still comes to my thoughts . And now more often... I feel... I've already seen him a countless number of times but..."_

But it didn't ring a bell. His thoughts were massively engulfed by a huge question mark. He hadn't had a clue to who this guy was ever since the day of the incident.

_"...Is this really a person... I should know about???..."_

And still, the ninja continued on inside. What he didn't know was that he wasn't invisible to the Pekopon's line of sight... but somehow... nobody noticed him...

Poor guy.

_"...I feel very empty. I feel very hurt...I feel incomplete... I feel something was supposed to be there by my side....I feel....sad..."_

He then ceased to move... and a tear shed from his eye...

_"...why...I don't understand..."_

He felt as if he was a broken tape recorder for weeks. He fell to his knees along the pathway next to the water... The ninja felt... like he could barely exist anymore with this going on. His heart, as if had a giant puncture. His mind was like it got crushed repetitively...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So as planned Giroro and Natsumi went to the festival along with most of their friends. The night was filled with laughter and excitement. They went to nearly all of booths and laughed their hearts out with all the funny things they saw.

But somewhere in the middle of it, Giroro separated from the group and secluded himself, up on a tree.

".Well, this is what would Dororo do to look at a beautiful night sky... Just wish he was right beside me. "

He sighed in disappointment...and YEs, he still had Dororo on his mind.

" I will always protect you Dororo, even if you've lost your memory of me. I wouldn't really care what happens, just as long as your safe."

He clutched his fist into the air and then reached for the evening stars, glimmering in the night sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Meanwhile... he didn't know that there was someone on the other side of the tree on the other branch.

"I hope I remember. This stranger in my head...somehow seems like an important person to me.

I think his name...his name is....

Gi-...ro-ro..."

He slowly blurted out the name in the dim of day.

The pieces were slowly coming together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" For some reason, it feels as if you're next to me..."

They both said it at the same time.


	17. Freefalling

The moon was still up in the sky above. The two of them stared at it but never noticed what was there behind their own backs. They had thought they were apart but they hadn't felt the feeling that they were closer than they actually thought.

It was a tall tree that had long, still branches that sprouted out in two ways. On one branch sat the very heart-shattered, Giroro. On the other sat the brain-washed, Dororo.

They never felt the presence of another as they were caught up in their own problems. But the problems had regarded one another.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dororo felt like his thoughts of this mysterious Keron overriding his head were starting to get recollected in his head.

"Giroro-kun...I'm sure that's his name"

He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to see his appearance in that black hazy cloud.

"I remember his red color...his belt that sling from his right shoulder...that scar on his face...eyes that had an angry glare."

His memory of Giroro started to come back to him, one by one. And then there was that seemingly unbelievable cherry on top that finished off the person he was.

"...but even when he's grumpy... he's very sweet and affectionate."

He looked straight at the moon that shot the rays of moonlight striking the ground below.

"I never knew the moon ever looked so elegant...It just makes me feel..."

But he didn't continue... he didn't find the right word to finish his sentence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro was still thinking deeply on what he would do next. He felt a bit hopeless. He never skipped a day without thinking about Dororo. Some of the other Kerons in the squad thought he looked desperate just on that one thing. The Pekoponians thought he had lost his energetic touch. He thought of himself as just being useless.

"If only...If only I...*sigh*"

He was just in disbelief and he was nearly going to burst into tears. He just rubbed his eyes and hoped not to feel that emotion of regret constantly nagging at his chest.

"Why couldn't you just make me sleep at night...? Please tell me, why?"

He merely asked in the breeze.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He then felt a beeping noise interrupt his calm thoughts.

"...Hey Giroro, where in the world are you. You're missing the fun..."  
"...huh, why..?"

It was Keroro calling him on his phone. Giroro just made up an excuse so that no one would see him like this. Besides, he also had that very annoying thought. The thought wherein if ever so he is going to tell Keroro, would he freak out or something. He just would hate to see how he reacted.

"...just go on without me..._*sniff*_...I'll...be right there later..."  
"Wait. Giroro are you crying?..."

Keroro heard that sniff from him.

" NO..._*ahem*_...I just got a cold."  
"Oh, I think I'm just hearing things because of all the _fun_ I'm having... all right. See ya!"  
"...yeah, see you..."

Giroro put down the phone and felt his tears run down his cheeks.

"I'm so screwed up now..._*sniff*_.I don't know what to do"

And he shook his head in disappointment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...I can't remember anything else..."

The Lance Corporal still sat there. Still, he was desperate of retrieving lost information. He was just as desperate as Giroro.

Dororo could keep seeing the good times with Giroro however it was like a picture that had something scratched out.

Every single moment that came to mind, Giroro seemed to have a presence but as soon as it would come it just felt like a damaged photograph to him.

He felt as if there was a firewall that was blocking him from remembering those memories.

His head felt like it was going to explode.

"I WANT TO REMEMBER!"

He felt so angry toward himself but at some extent he couldn't think why.

The birds flew away from the trees beside.

There were people who have heard it from down below. It was unusaual but they thought it was just something they could just pass by. The Keroro Platoon below along with the others didn't hear what was that noise.

Giroro then heard that familiar voice from behind the other side of the tree trunk. It somehow sounded like...

"Dororo!" He immediately yelled out.

Then he heard an unexpected cracking noise. Dororo was so caught in screaming that he didn't notice what was going on where he was standing.

"Why is he here now?"

The corporal was just shocked and had thoughts like.

"Did he hear what I said?" and "wait, maybe he won't notice me here..."

He wasn't noticed but there was something that Giroro observed. The branch Dororo was standing on was crashing and bending from the pressure the Lance Corporal was exerting through his feet.

"...CrAP! This isn't good..."

He exclaimed it out and he was in a panic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dororo closed his eyes and then with a second to pass, the place he was stepping on crumbled slowly and afterward broke in two. He didn't know what happened until he opened his eyes again.

Everything was going in slow motion. He just felt like he was being pulled by air... he just didn't realize he was falling down to the ground that was way down below. However, even with Dororo's ninja prowess, he didn't do anything but just let his mind go blank.

Giroro stopped for a while and just thought,

_"There's no way that is happening now... It's just not possible..."_

He slapped his face and shook himself just to be sure he was hallucinating. He opened his eyes again and still they were struck open.

"NO! This is a joke!"

He had sworn he wasn't going to be any part of anything that was happening right in front of him but then he heard...

"...Giroro-kun..."

...his voice getting called out in the wind.

He had heard it and jumped off quickly where he stood and hoped to catch the ninja. The wind had blustered through his hat as he plunged down to save his companion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dororo felt like he was in a dream as everything was was going by. He still felt everything going slower as the moments kept passing.

He had looked up and saw some black figure going after him. Everything was as if it was displayed sideways and instead of falling in mid-air, it felt like they were floating in the water.

He kept looking up and smiled with the mask covering it. He lifted his arm and tel his hand out to that somewhat mysterious figure.

If the dream was true...it would've been nice for him.

But in real life...he turned out delirious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giroro had actually gotten hold of the blue one's hand and then wrapped his arms around him and changed their position so that his own back would touch the ground and protect Dororo from any damage.

"I had always protected him ever since...and now I'm doing it again even though..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The landing wasn't smooth of course. as they crashed from a very long distance up.

The Corporal had opened his eyes and saw Dororo unconscious in his arms. His hands had felt the beating of Dororo's heart as he had put them on his chest.

"Thank goodness he's alright."

He laid him on the grass and sat next to his body. The light emitted from the moon was very eye-catching. Giroro looked up like before and then looked at his comrade's sleeping face. He looked left and right for a while.

He didn't suspect anyone was watching him so he just got his face positioned on top of the other one's.

Giroro softly kissed Dororo's masked lips and the laid down on the ground and looked at the stars.

"...Giroro-kun...I love you..."

The red frog then just opened his eyes and looked at Dororo. Sometimes some people get the tendency to say stuff while they sleep but Giroro didn't think this was some coincidence.

"...Dororo, are you awake?.."  
"...huh, where am I? Giroro-kun, how come you're here?.."  
"...Did you just say my name?.."

Dororo was wondering why in the world would he say that. But as soon as he said his name a sudden rush of thoughts came back to his head. He shook and stirred about in his place, placing his hands to the temples of his head. His eyes closed.

"...Dororo, is there something wrong?..."  
"...You...you're Giroro-kun, right?.."

Giroro still looked at him a bit suspiciously. He didn't know what was going on.

"...You're acting weird Dororo..."  
"...It's just, I just recovered my memory..."  
"...How are you sure?..."

Dororo sat up and then looked at his friend back with a smile.

"Of course, we were friends on Keron. We are on the same squadron with Keroro.  
And most of all you've made me feel better when I'm with you.

He sighed out a bit and then said

"Just to make it short, you're very special to me ,Giroro-kun"

The red frog had a smile get slowly depicted on his face and wrapped his arms around the blue one once more.

"I've been aching for you to say that for a long time."

They fell back to the ground and laid there for some time. But Dororo put his hands back on his head.

"Hey, Dororo. Is there something wrong with you, now?"  
"No...I just have a head-ache, all of a sudden..."  
"Heh, well, what can I do to make it better?"  
"It's just okay if you stay there beside me....that's all the medicine I need now."

Red arms wrapped him for a long time. Dororo had felt better and felt comfortable with his presence once more.

"I love you..."

Giroro whispered it and nuzzled his head onto Dororo's shoulder.

"It's been a long time since I've heard you say that."

Dororo replied and then said the same thing back again.

They were back to the good feeling they haven't felt for days. It was by a short unexpected chance that they had it back but it was better than nothing.

Stars were shining and the moon was glimmering through those trees above. The grass swayed with the wind and made everything so soothing.

A priceless friendship was back from the depths of their loneliness they called oblivion.

Tomorrow was going to probably start but they were still caught up in the moment.

Dororo had kissed the red forehead and had a tear shed from the corner of his eye. A tear of happiness. 


End file.
